KS . 


THE 


PRINCESS  OF  CLEVES. 


MADAME      DK      l.AFAYF.TTF. 


THE 


PRINCESS  OF  CLEVES. 

BY 

MADAME   DE    LA    FAYETTE. 

TRANSLATED   BY 

THOMAS   SERGEANT   PERRY. 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS   DRAWN  BY    JULES    GARNIER.   AND 
ENGRAVED    BY   A.    I.A.VOTTE. 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES. 

VOL.  I. 


BOSTON: 

LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND    COMPANY. 
1891. 


Copyright,  1891, 
BY  LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY. 


JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON,  CAMBRIDGE. 


CONTENTS    TO   VOL.    I. 


PAGB 

PREFACE   7 

PART  1 47 

PART  II 131 


2220756 


PREFACE. 


"PRINCESS  OFCLEVES"  was  pub- 
lished in  the  spring  of  1678  by 
Claude  Barbin,  whose  place  of  business 
was  on  the  second  floor  of  the  Sainte- 
Chapelle.  It  was  a  good  house,  for 
Barbin  was  the  publisher  of  Boileau,  La 
Fontaine,  and  Racine.  The  "  Phedre  " 
had  appeared  but  a  short  time  before ; 
the  first  volume  of  a  new  edition  of  the 
"  Fables  "  had  just  been  put  on  sale;  and 
for  the  autumn  there  was  announced 
a  fifth  edition,  much  enlarged,  of  the 
"Maxims"  of  Monsieur  de  la  Rochefou- 
cauld. Barbin  was  no  Elzevir ;  he 


8  Preface. 

wrought,  not  for  students  or  for  con- 
noisseurs, but  for  the  court  and  the 
town.  His  books  were  printed  without 
elegance,  and  were  designed  for  a  wide 
circulation.  He  had  shrewdly  printed 
the  "  Princess  of  Cleves  "  in  four  small 
volumes,  in  large  type,  —  doubtless  in 
order  to  be  able  to  ask  the  highest  pos- 
sible price  for  a  book  long  announced 
and  belauded ;  possibly,  too,  in  order 
that  ladies  might  be  able  to  carry  into 
bowers  and  drawing-rooms  the  light 
volumes  of  a  book  written  for  them  by 
one  of  themselves. 

The  "  Princess  of  Cleves "  bore  no 
author's  name.  Etiquette  forbade  that 
there  should  be  exposed  on  the  stalls  of 
the  Palais  and  of  the  Rue  Saint-Jacques 
the  titlepage  of  a  book  bearing  the 
name  of  a  lady  of  the  court  It  was 
commonly  supposed  that  the  Duke  of 


Preface.  9 

La  Rochefoucauld,  the  lover  of  Madame 
de  la  Fayette,  had  lent  his  aid,  and  that 
perhaps  Segrais  had  written  part  of  it.1 
Segrais,  a  poor  gentleman  and  an 
academician,  had  for  some  time  been  a 
member  of  the  household  of  Madame 
de  la  Fayette,  occupying  an  humble  po- 
sition in  an  elegant  and  noble  domes- 
ticity. In  1670  he  had  put  his  name 
to  "  Zaide  :  a  Spanish  Story,"  which 
Monsieur  Huet  and  all  the  duke's 
friends  freely  attributed  to  Madame  de 

1  There  was  published  this  introductory  note,  from 
"The  Publisher  to  the  Reader,"  which  denied  noth- 
ing, confessed  nothing,  and  contained  an  unfulfilled 
promise  :  "  In  spite  of  the  approval  that  readers  have 
expressed  for  this  story,  the  author  has  not  been  able 
to  decide  to  set  his  name  to  it.  He  knows  from 
experience  that  books  are  often  condemned  from  dis- 
like for  their  author,  and  he  also  knows  that  an  au- 
thor's reputation  gives  a  value  to  his  work.  Hence 
he  remains  in  his  present  obscurity  to  secure  a  freer 
and  juster  verdict ;  nevertheless,  he  will  make  himself 
known  if  this  story  proves  as  agreeable  to  the  public 
as  he  hopes." 


i  o  Preface. 

la  Fayette,  and  which  the  worthy  gentle- 
man afterward  called  his  "  Zai'de,"  —  ap- 
parently from  an  excess  of  friendly  zeal. 
It  is,  after  all,  very  possible  that  he  may 
have  devised  the  plot  of  "  Zai'de,"  and 
even  that  he  may  have  written  a  few 
pages  of  the  story.  It  is  easy  to  imagine 
Segrais  writing  in  the  romantic  style  of 
this  Spanish  story;  but  it  is  impossible 
to  see  what  he  could  have  contributed 
to  the  "  Princess  of  Cleves,"  the  note 
of  which  is  entirely  different.  Segrais' 
taste  always  inclined  to  grace  and  pretti- 
ness,  —  which  certainly  are  not  the  char- 
acteristic qualities  of  the  novel  of  1678. 
We  cannot  even  be  certain  that  Segrais 
would  in  his  heart  have  approved  so 
simple  a  tale ;  he  would  have  vastly  pre- 
ferred "  Zai'de,"  his  "Zai'de,"  with  its  ab- 
ductions, its  shipwrecks,  its  pirates,  its 
gloomy  solitudes,  where  flawless  lovers 


Preface.  1 1 

breathed  forth  their  sighs  in  palaces 
adorned  with  allegorical  paintings.  The 
"  Princess  of  Cleves"  appeared  two  years 
after  the  return  of  Segrais  to  Caen,  the 
city  of  his  birth. 

The  book  was  doubtless  written  be- 
fore the  academician  left  Madame  de 
la  Fayette's  house  ;  but  even  if  he  had 
assisted  in  its  preparation,  it  was  not 
his  book,  it  was  not  his  "  Princess."  As 
for  the  Duke  of  La  Rochefoucauld,  he 
was,  as  every  one  knows,  the  acknowl- 
edged lover  of  Madame  de  la  Fayette; 
their  relations  were  respected  by  every 
one,  and  many  things  combined  to 
diminish  the  scandal  of  their  intimacy. 
The  duke  was  an  old  man ;  Madame  de 
la  Fayette  was  no  longer  young,  and 
had  never  been  beautiful ;  they  were 
both  ill,  feeble,  almost  at  the  point  of 
death.  Lastly,  he  was  a  prince,  and 


1 2  Preface. 

she  was  very  devout.  It  was  a  natural 
supposition  that  they  wrote  their  novels 
together,  as  Monsieur  and  Madame  Da- 
cier  read  Greek  together.  It  was  also 
known  that  the  duke  liked  to  read 
novels.  He  used  to  say,  after  having 
been  loved  by  Madame  de  Sable,  by  Ma- 
dame de  Longueville,  and  by  Madame 
de  la  Fayette,  that  he  had  never  known 
love  outside  of  the  pages  of  a  novel. 
He  was  credited  with  a  share  in  the 
"  Princess  of  Cleves "  only  because  it 
was  possible  that  he  might  have  had 
one  ;  but  no  one  knew  how  large  this 
share  was,  or  even  whether  there  was 
one.  For  my  part,  I  do  not  believe  that 
he  inspired  or  contributed  a  line.  His 
imagination  was  powerful,  but  its  flight 
was  short ;  he  grasped  at  everything, 
but  everything  slipped  through  his  fin- 
gers. Moreover,  he  was  weary  of  life; 


Preface.  1 3 

while  Madame  de  la  Fayette,  although 
she  seemed  almost  at  the  last  gasp, 
never  eating  or  sleeping,  parched  with 
fever,  withered,  half  dead,  was  yet  very 
active  and  an  indefatigable  writer. 
Among  other  matters  which  she  had 
undertaken,  she  had  for  twelve  years 
been  governing  Savoy  by  letters,  as 
the  secret  agent  of  the  Regent.  Huet 
testifies  that  he  saw  her  write  "  Zai'de ;  " 
Madame  de  Sevigne,  her  most  intimate 
friend,  assigns  to  her,  without  a  mo- 
ment's hesitation,  both  the  "  Princess 
of  Montpensier"  and  the  "Princess  of 
Cleves ;  "  and  I  know  no  evidence  that 
can  be  urged  against  this  most  prob- 
able statement  except  that  of  Madame 
de  la  Fayette  herself. 

The  relations  of  Madame  de  la  Fay- 
ette to  the  little  court  of  Savoy  were 
hidden  in  France  from  even  the  most 


14  Preface. 

intimate  friends  of  that  lady,  and  have 
eluded  all  her  biographers.  Sainte- 
Beuve  himself,  who  seldom  went  astray, 
had  no  suspicion  of  the  political  intri- 
gues which  played  a  prominent  part  in 
a  life  which  he  supposed  thoroughly 
filled  with  works  of  piety,  with  literature, 
and  with  an  engrossing  affection.  It 
is  not  yet  twelve  years  since  Monsieur 
A.  D.  Perrero  published  the  letters 
of  Madame  de  la  Fayette  which  he 
had  discovered  in  the  Turin  archives.1 
These  letters  show  us  the  sedate  mis- 
tress of  La  Rochefoucauld  in  a  new 
light,  —  busier,  more  interested  in  poli- 
tics, in  statesmanship,  than  might  seem 
desirable.  Doubtless  she  was  working 
for  France,  and  asked  the  most  trivial 


1  Lettere  inedite  di  Madame  de  Lafayette.  Torino, 
1880.  See,  too,  the  article  by  Arvede  Barine  in  the 
"  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes  "  for  Sept.  15,  1880. 


Preface.  1 5 

rewards  for  her  services  ;  but  it  is  a  sur- 
prise to  detect  in  her  such  an  intriguing 
nature,  and  we  must  acknowledge  that 
the  excellent  Madame  de  Sevigne,  who 
called  her  so  candid,  did  not  know  her 
at  all.  I  should  be  unwilling  to  say 
that  Madame  de  la  Fayette  was  not 
candid,  but  it  is  very  certain  that  she 
was  extremely  reserved  and  that  she 
deceived  every  one.  All  who  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  her  imagined  her  con- 
tinually lost  in  day-dreams  ;  they  called 
her  misty :  yet  in  reality  she  was  most 
precise,  most  practical.  Truthful  she 
was,  without  doubt ;  yet  there  is  one 
matter  in  which  it  is  impossible  to 
believe  her,  and  that  is  when  she 
denies  having  written  the  "  Princess  of 
Cleves." 

This  denial  is  to  be  found  in  a  letter, 
written   April    13,    1678,    to    the    secre- 


1 6  Preface. 

tary  of  the  Regent  of  Savoy  Les- 
cheraine,  with  whom  the  countess  was 
carrying  on  a  diplomatic  correspon- 
dence. We  quote  the  interesting  part 
of  this  letter :  — 

"  A  little  book  which  had  some  vogue 
fifteen  years  ago,  and  which  the  public  was 
pleased  to  ascribe  to  me,  has  earned  me  the 
title  of  author  of  the  'Princess  of  Cleves.' 
But  I  assure  you  that  I  have  had  no  part  in 
it,  and  that  Monsieur  de  la  Rochefoucauld, 
who  has  also  been  mentioned,  has  had  as 
little  as  I.  He  denies  it  so  strenuously 
that  it  is  impossible  not  to  believe  him, 
especially  about  a  matter  which  can  be  con- 
fessed without  shame.  As  for  me,  I  am 
flattered  at  being  suspected,  and  I  think  I 
should  acknowledge  the  book  if  I  was  sure 
that  the  author  would  never  claim  it  of  me. 
I  find  it  very  agreeable,  well-written,  with- 
out being  extremely  polished,  full  of  very 
delicate  touches,  and  well  worth  more  than 


Preface.  1 7 

a  single  reading ;  and  what  I  especially  no- 
tice is  an  exact  representation  of  the  persons 
composing  the  court  and  of  their  manner 
of  life.  It  is  without  romanticism  and  exag- 
geration, and  so  is  not  a  romance;  it  is 
more  like  a  book  of  memoirs,  —and  I  hear 
that  was  the  first  title  of  the  book;  but  it 
was  changed.  There  you  have  my  opinion 
on  the  '  Princess  of  Cleves ; '  let  me  ask  you 
for  yours,  for  people  have  almost  come  to 
blows  over  it.  Many  blame  what  others 
praise ;  so,  whatever  you  say,  you  will  not 
find  yourself  alone  in  your  views." 

This  letter  makes  it  clear  that  Ma- 
dame de  la  Fayette  was  averse  to  hav- 
ing it  known,  in  Savoy  at  least,  that 
she  was  a  writer  of  books,  and  that  she 
had  been  so  called  by  Claude  Barbin, 
the  bookseller  of  the  Palais.  With  one 
stroke  of  the  pen  she  disclaims  both 
the  "  Princess  of  Cleves  "  and  "  Zaide," 
which  had  been  published  fifteen,  or, 


VOL     1—2 


1 8  Preface. 

more  accurately,  seventeen  years.1  She 
disavows  any  share  in  it,  as  does  Mon- 
sieur de  la  Rochefoucauld,  whose  denial 
she  mentions.  Yet  she  is  far  from  con- 
demning what  she  disclaims.  She  says 
that  if  the  "  Princess  of  Cleves  "  is  not 
by  her,  she  would  be  glad  to  have  writ- 
ten it,  and  she  is  almost  tempted  to  steal 
it  from  its  true  author.  She  praises  the 
book  more  warmly  than  we  should  be 
able  to  do.  Save  in  sincerity,  she  re- 
minds us  of  the  poor  girl  who  sighed 
and  said:  "Children  are  so  lovely!  What 
a  pity  that  they  bring  disgrace  !  "  Did 
Madame  de  la  Fayette  look  upon  the 
"  Princess  of  Cleves "  as  a  charming 
sin,  a  sweet  disgrace  ?  I  should  be 
inclined  to  think  that  she  did.  Later, 
Voltaire  was  to  give  us  many  exam- 

1  We  have  said  that  "Za'ide  "  appeared  in  1670.     It 
was  reprinted  in  1705  and  1719. 


Preface.  1 9 

pies  of  disavowals  of  this  sort.  But 
Voltaire  lied  with  too  much  pleasure, 
with  an  unction  that  betrayed  a  natu- 
ral predisposition  to  falsehood.  This 
great  enemy  of  prejudice  never  hesi- 
tated to  employ  a  lie  in  the  service  of 
the  truth.  Sometimes  he  lied  merely 
for  his  own  pleasure,  thereby  swerving 
from  the  precept  of  a  great  master  of  the 
art,  Monsieur  de  Talleyrand,  who  used 
to  say :  "  Lying  is  such  an  excellent 
thing  that  it  should  not  be  abused." 
However  that  may  be,  it  is  easy  to 
understand  why  Voltaire  denied  this 
or  that  one  of  his  books.  We  are 
more  surprised  by  Madame  de  la  Fay- 
ette's  disavowal,  coming  as  it  does 
from  the  most  "  candid "  of  women, 
and  it  is  not  easy  to  see  what  were 
her  real  reasons.  Arvede  Barine  —  in 
the  article  in  the  "  Revue  des  Deux 


2O  Preface. 

Mondes  "  already  cited  —  suggests  that 
possibly  Madame  de  la  Fayette  was 
afraid  of  offending  the  Regent  of  Savoy, 
a  Princess  of  Nemours,  by  acknowl- 
edging herself  to  be  the  author  of  a 
novel  in  which  a  Nemours  is  repre- 
sented as  the  handsomest  man  of  his 
day,  but  as  thoroughly  devoted  to 
gallantry 

This  would  be  an  excess  of  scrupu- 
lousness for  which  there  was  no  occa- 
sion. The  Regent,  Marie  de  Nemours, 
commonly  called  Madame  Royale,  was 
also  notorious  for  her  many  love  affairs, 
which,  indeed,  she  took  no  pains  to  con- 
ceal ;  and  Monsieur  de  Nemours  would 
no  more  have  shocked  her  by  his  con- 
duct than  he  would  have  displeased  her 
by  his  appearance.  Moreover,  even  if 
she  had  assumed  a  prudery  which  in 
no  way  belonged  to  her,  no  woman 


Preface.  2 1 

even  of  excessive  religious  sensitiveness 
would  ever  have  blushed  at  having  had 
a  Nemours  in  her  family. 

I  rather  incline  to  think  that  Madame 
de  la  Fayette,  who  took  pleasure  in  writ- 
ing because  she  wrote  well,  was  unwill- 
ing to  be  known  as  an  author,  especially 
at  courts.  It  was  she,  we  must  say,  who 
was  prudish  and  pious.  Now,  about 
1678  women  writers  enjoyed  no  very 
high  repute.  By  her  epoch  and  by  her 
friendships  Madame  de  la  Fayette  be- 
longed to  the  brilliant  society  of  the 
Fronde.  Ever  since  she  had  been 
Mademoiselle  de  la  Vergne,  and  showed 
Menage  how  much  more  Latin  she 
knew  than  he,  the  Hotel  de  Rambouil- 
let  had  set  the  fashion  for  a  society 
very  eager  for  fame,  and  no  less  criti- 
cal in  matters  of  feeling  than  in  those 
of  the  intellect.  At  that  time  it  was 


2  2  Preface. 

customary  for  women  to  combine  pure 
morals  with  intellectual  brilliancy.  To 
be  learned  was  to  be  virtuous  ;  and 
wisdom  in  the  ancient  sense,  as  it  was 
then  understood,  implied  rhetoric,  as- 
tronomy, and  chastity.  That  is  the  way 
that  Mademoiselle  de  la  Vergne  under- 
stood it,  and  she  was  very  anxious  to 
be  thought  learned.  After  her  mar- 

«u 

riage,  which  brought  her  no  happiness, 
she  became  intimate  with  the  pre- 
cieuses,  who  dealt  in  subtilties  and 
affected  to  scorn  the  pleasures  of  the 
senses.  Then  it  was  that  she  brought 
out  the  "Princess  of  Montpensier; " 
but  at  that  very  moment  public  opinion 
was  changing.  The  new  generation 
showed  itself  severe  toward  those  once 
famous  women,  and  with  some  rudeness 
ordered  them  back  to  their  domestic 
duties.  The  pr'ecieuses  were  ridiculed 


Preface.  23 

on  all  sides ;  they  were  attacked  by 
Moliere  and  by  the  Abbe  de  Pure  at 
the  same  time.  Madame  de  la  Fayette, 
like  a  discreet  woman,  concealed  her 
Latin  and  yielded  to  the  new  cur- 
rent of  thought,  although  she  felt  that 

O  O 

she  had  a  genius  for  writing.  While 
she  risked  "ZaTde"  in  the  face  of  this 
reaction,  when  even  Madeleine  de 
Scudery,  that  illustrious  Sappho,  passed 
for  a  tolerably  ridiculous  person,  it 
was  with  the  precautions  we  have  men- 
tioned, and  behind  the  mask  of  Mon- 
sieur de  Segrais.  Eighteen  years  later, 
a  woman  as  sensitive  of  her  reputation 
as  was  Madame  de  la  Fayette  had  still 
to  be  cautious  about  appearing  in  print. 
Women  who  wrote  were  looked  upon 
as  improper  characters,  and  not  wholly 
without  reason.  Madame  Deshoulieres 
had  been  loose  in  her  life,  Madame  de 


24  Preface. 

la  Suze  still  was,  and  Mademoiselle  de 
Villedieu  lived  with  an  officer.  Learned 
women  like  Madame  de  la  Sabliere 
made  great  concessions  to  the  emo- 
tions. Madame  de  la  Fayette  was  un- 
willing to  seem  learned,  and  entered 
the  republic  of  letters  only  behind  a 
triple  veil.  Besides,  she  was  a  woman 
of  piety,  and  belonged  to  the  little  co- 
terie of  Port  Royal,  in  which  novels 
were  an  abomination.  Monsieur  Nicole, 
the  gentlest  of  men,  said  at  that  time : 
"  A  writer  of  novels  or  plays  is  a  pub- 
lic poisoner,  not  of  men's  bodies,  but 
of  the  souls  of  the  faithful  ;  and  he 
ought  to  look  upon  himself  as  guilty 
of  numberless  spiritual  homicides,  — 
whether,  in  fact,  he  has  already  caused 
them,  or  only  may  cause  them  by  his 
pernicious  writings."  It  is  plain  that 
Madame  de  la  Fayette  had,  after  all, 


Preface.  25 

some  reasons  for  not  too  openly  ac- 
knowledging the  "  Princess  of  Cleves." 

The  book  which  appeared  in  this 
mysterious  way  was  at  once  success- 
ful. For  a  whole  season  every  one 
was  talking  about  it.  Madame  de  la 
Fayette  scarcely  exaggerated  when  she 
spoke  of  people  "  coming  to  blows  " 
about  it.  Young  Valincour,  the  friend 
of  Racine,  wrote  a  criticism  of  it  which 
was  ascribed  to  Father  Bouhours,  and 
an  Abbe  de  Charmes  replied  with  an 
apology  which  appeared  under  the 
name  of  Barbier  d'Aucour.  Boursault 
made  a  tragedy  out  of  it,  for  in  France 
everything  that  acquires  notoriety  comes 
at  last  upon  the  stage. 

Never  was  success  better  deserved. 
Madame  de  la  Fayette  was  the  first  to 
introduce  naturalness  into  fiction, —  the 
first  to  draw  human  beings  and  real 


26  Preface. 

feelings ;  and  thereby  she  earned  a  place 
among  the  true  classics,  —  fitly  follow- 
ing Moliere,  La  Fontaine,  Boileau,  and 
Racine,  who  had  brought  back  the 
Muses  to  nature  and  truth.  "  Andro- 
maque  "  belongs  to  1667;  the  "  Princess 
of  Cleves"  to  1678:  modern  French 
literature  starts  from  those  two  dates. 
The  "  Princess  of  Cleves  "  is  the  first 
French  novel  in  which  the  interest  de- 
pends on  the  truth  of  the  passions. 

But  we  must  not  forget  that  if  this 
novel  shows,  by  the  charming  simplicity 
of  its  style  and  thought,  that  Racine  had 
appeared,  introducing  Monime  and  Be- 
renice, yet  Madame  de  la  Fayette,  by 
the  very  spirit  of  her  work,  belongs  to 
the  generation  of  the  Fronde  and  of 
Corneille.  She  remains  heroic  in  her 
simplicity,  and,  like  the  author  of 
"  Cinna,"  preserves  a  proud  and  noble 


Preface.  2  7 

ideal  of  life.  In  the  essential  points  of 
her  character  her  heroine  is,  like  Emilie, 
an  "adorable  fury,"  —  a  fury  of  modesty, 
it  may  be ;  but  none  the  less  a  few  ser- 
pents' heads  appear  to  be  concealed  in 
her  beautiful  blond  hair.  The  philoso- 
phy of  Madame  de  la  Fayette  is  like  that 
of  Corneille,  and  she  held  to  the  past  as 
do  women  no  longer  young.  Racine  — 
and  it  was  the  great  success  of  this 
genius,  who  was  both  charming  and  pow- 
erful —  represented  his  tragic  heroines 
as  pathetic  victims  of  their  heart  and  of 
their  senses.  Corneille  had  exalted  the 
will  to  a  point  of  absurdity;  Racine 
showed  the  omnipotence  of  the  passions, 
and,  without  knowing  it,  he  was  in  this 
respect  the  boldest  of  innovators.  He 
introduced  into  poetry  a  new,  unheard- 
of,  profound  truth.  His  contemporaries 
had  no  very  clear  vision  of  this ;  even 


28  Preface. 

those  who,  like  Saint-Evremond,  were  to 
enter  most  readily  into  this  philosophy, 
were  restrained  by  their  literary  preju- 
dices. Hence  we  need  not  be  sur- 
prised that  Madame  de  Sevigne  felt  a 
frivolous  contempt  for  works  so  great 
that  she  was  incompetent  to  understand 
them.  Her  intimate  friend,  Madame 
de  la  Fayette,  was  far  more  thoughtful 
and  of  keener  intellect ;  she  understood 
things  whose  existence  the  marchioness 
never  even  suspected.  Nevertheless,  in 
her  study  of  the  passions  she  clung,  and 
insisted  on  clinging,  to  the  psychology 
of  Corneille  and  of  the  precieuses. 
What  did  she  really  think  ?  No  one 
will  ever  know.  Her  real  personality 
was  impenetrable ;  even  her  confessor 
did  not  know  her.  A  prude,  pious, 
with  a  high  position  at  court,  I  can 
almost  suspect  her  of  having  doubted  of 


Preface.  29 

virtue,  of  having  believed  only  faintly 
in  God,  and  —  what  was  more  astonish- 
ing at  that  period  —  of  having  hated 
the  king.  I  am  convinced  that  she 
was  a  great  freethinker.  She  never 
told  her  secret,  not  even  in  the  "  Prin- 
cess of  Cleves." 

I  shall  not  analyze  this  novel,  which 
is  familiar  even  to  those  who  have  not 
read  it.  It  is  well  known  that  the  scene 
is  laid  in  the  court  of  Henri  II.,  but 
that  in  fact  the  manners  described  are 
those,  somewhat  idealized,  of  people  of 
quality  who  lived  at  the  same  period 
as  the  author.  Writers  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  had  no  true  sense  of 
the  past,  and  unconsciously  delineated 
themselves  under  ancient  or  foreign 
names :  thus  Madame  de  la  Fayette 
with  perfect  simplicity  ascribes  to  the 
contemporaries  of  the  Valois  the  Ian- 


30  Preface. 

guage  and  manners  of  the  courtiers  of 
Louis  XIV.  I  do  not  say  that  she  was 
not  familiar  with  the  epoch  of  the  Valois, 
I  do  say  that  she  but  dimly  understood 
it ;  and  we  should  be  glad  that  she  did 
not  undertake  to  describe  it,  —  that 
would  have  been  only  a  work  of  erudi- 
tion, while,  as  it  was,  she  gave  free  play 
to  her  genius.  It  is  scarcely  worth  while 
to  recall  the  simple  story  that  is  the 
basis  of  this  charming  book.  Madame 
de  Cleves,  the  most  beautiful  woman  of 
the  court,  is  loved  by  Monsieur  de  Ne- 
mours, the  most  accomplished  gentle- 
man of  the  whole  kingdom.  Monsieur 
de  Nemours,  though  he  had  led  a  life 
of  gallantry,  becomes  timid  as  soon  as 
he  is  really  in  love.  He  hides  his  pas- 
sion, but  Madame  de  Cleves  detects  it, 
and  involuntarily  shares  it.  To  defend 
herself  from  the  danger  to  which  her 


Preface.  3 1 

heart  exposes  her,  she  finally  decides 
to  tell  her  husband  that  she  loves  Mon- 
sieur de  Nemours,  that  she  fears  him 
and  fears  herself.  Her  husband  at  first 
reassures  and  consoles  her ;  but  through 
the  imprudence  and  an  indiscretion  of 
the  Duke  of  Nemours  he  imagines  him- 
self wronged,  and  dies  of  grief.  His 
widow  does  not  judge  that  she  has  there- 
by regained  her  liberty ;  she  remains 
faithful  to  the  memory  of  a  husband 
whom  she  had  never  lovect. 

That  in  many  ways  seems  admirable. 
It  is  true  that  Madame  de  Cleves  sets  a 
high  value  on  virtue,  for  she  does  not 
think  it  is  paid  too  high  a  price  by  the 
death  of  the  husband  and  the  despair  of 
a  lover,  —  taking  this  last  word  in  the 
sense  that  it  had  in  the  seventeenth 
century.  "  What  do  you  think  of  it  ?  " 
I  asked  a  woman  whose  honest  and  in- 


32  Preface. 

telligent  mind  I  admire.    This  was  what 
she  was  good  enough  to  reply :  — 

"  Except  for  her  preciosity,  the  Princess  of 
Cleves  is  a  true  heroine  of  the  Hotel  de  Ram- 
bouillet.  She  is  divine  like  Clelie  and  Arthe- 
nice.  Her  beauty  is  unrivalled,  her  soul 
knows  no  weakness.  But  Madame  de  Cleves 
is  no  artificial  heroine,  and  the  motives  that 
inspire  her  have  their  roots  in  reality,  and  do 
not  depend  on  fiction.  Her  principles  are 
very  human,  and  wholly  without  any  ideal; 
propriety  and  reason,  which  are  transient 
virtues,  control  her  life  and  regulate  her  feel- 
ings. And  even  more  than  propriety,  the 
notion  of  her  worldly  position  fills  and  pro- 
tects her.  She  has  the  pr  foundest  respect 
for  appearances,  and  her  aristocratic  pride 
mitigates  many  of  her  secret  sufferings.  I 
fancy  that  to  this  woman,  whose  psychology, 
and  especially  whose  moral  nature,  was  so 
much  less  complicated  than  ours,  the  world 
must  have  seemed  like  a  well-lighted  drawing- 


Preface.  33 

room,  and  that  her  duty  consisted  in  passing 
through  it  with  dignity  and  grace;  then 
with  a  majestic  courtesy  she  withdrew,  and  all 
was  over.  It  is  the  triumph  of  etiquette,  and 
of  etiquette  which  may  amount  to  heroism ; 
for  it  sometimes  takes  more  courage  and  more 
firmness  to  smile  in  the  midst  of  a  ball  than 
on  the  battle-field.  The  Princess  of  Cleves 
possesses  that  sort  of  courage,  —  she  possesses 
it  to  such  an  extent  that  she  forgets  herself 
and  sacrifices  herself;  she  has  no  weakness, 
but  she  also  has  no  pity.  She  gives  over  to 
despair  and  death  two  men,  one  of  whom  at 
least  she  loves.  She  has  no  remorse,  because 
she  has  given  no  cause  for  scandal,  and  noth- 
ing has  seriously  marred  the  happy  harmony 
of  her  conduct.  She  is  an  excellent  example 
of  what  is  produced  by  very  rigid  social 
principles  and  a  very  severe  rule  of  life  with 
nothing  higher  than  these  principles.  She  is 
also  an  edifying,  though  discouraging,  instance 
of  what  morality  and  virtue  can  do  for  men's 

happiness.     In  contrast  with  this   loyal  and 
VOL.  i.  —  3 


34  Preface. 

«» 

unflinching  soul,  we  recall  those  other  hero- 
ines who  were  weak,  who  were  guilty,  but 
were  gentle ;  and  we  ask  if,  underlying  lofty 
virtue,  there  was  not  a  feeling  of  pride  which 
consoled  her  for  everything,  even  for  the  harm 
she  wrought." 

Doubtless  what  is  most  original  in 
the  conduct  of  Madame  de  Cleves  is 
her  confession  to  her  husband  of  her 
love  for  another  man.  This  cannot  be 
regarded  as  a  kind  action,  for  this  con- 
fession is  the  primary  cause  of  the  death 
of  Monsieur  de  Cleves.  If  she  had  not 
spoken,  Monsieur  de  Cleves  would  not 
have  died ;  he  would  have  lived  on,  tran- 
quilly, happily,  in  an  agreeable  delusion : 
but  truth  was  required  at  all  hazards. 
This  was  also  the  opinion  of  a  famous 
woman  who  a  hundred  years  later  re- 
peated this  confession.  Madame  Roland, 
when  thirty-nine  years  old,  felt  "  the 


Preface.  35 

strong  affections  of  a  powerful  mind  con- 
trolling a  robust  body."  The  man  she 
loved  had,  like  her,  a  lofty  feeling  of  duty. 
He  was  the  Deputy  Buzot.  They  loved, 
but  that  was  all.  Madame  Roland  had 
a  husband  twenty  years  older  than  she, 
and  decrepit.  She  thought  it  her  duty, 
following  the  example  of  Madame  de 
Cleves,  to  confess  to  him  that  she  loved 
another  man  ;  but  the  confession  once 
made,  this  half-dead  husband  could  not 
take  it  tragically,  so  that  perhaps  in  this 
respect  Madame  Roland  will  seem  less 
imprudent  than  Madame  de  Cleves. 
In  spite  of  that,  she  had  no  reason  to 
be  satisfied  with  her  confession  of  the 
state  of  affairs  to  him,  as  she  acknowl- 
edges in  her  Memoirs  :  — 

"  I  honor  and  cherish  my  husband  as  an 
affectionate  daughter  adores  a  virtuous  father 
for  whom  she  would  sacrifice  even  a  lover; 


36  Preface. 

but  I  have  found  the  man  who  might  be  this 
lover,  and  while  I  remained  faithful  to  my 
duties  my  ingenuity  has  not  been  able  to  hide 
the  feelings  that  I  sacrificed  to  them.  My 
husband,  whose  susceptibility  and  self-love 
were  both  easily  roused,  could  not  endure  the 
idea  of  the  slightest  modification  in  sway ;  he 
imagined  dark  things ;  his  jealousy  annoyed 
me ;  happiness  fled  far  from  us.  He  adored 
me ;  I  sacrificed  myself  to  him,  and  we  were 
wretched.  Were  I  free,  I  would  follow  him 
anywhere,  to  soothe  his  sufferings  and  to 
console  his  old  age :  a  soul  like  mine  is 
contented  with  no  imperfect  sacrifice.  But 
Roland  detests  the  thought  of  a  sacrifice ;  and 
having  once  perceived  that  I  am  making  one 
for  him,  the  knowledge  destroys  all  his  hap- 
piness. It  pains  him  to  receive  such  a  sacri- 
fice, and  yet  he  cannot  do  without  it." 

Roland  did  not  die  of  this.  Every 
one  says  that  he  was  sublime ;  and  he 
promised  some  time  to  make  way  for 


Preface.  37 

the  man  who  was  loved,  if  his  wife's 
new  affection  should  continue.  Ma- 
dame Roland  was  also  sublime,  and 
refused  to  hear  of  this  generous  sacri- 
fice. But  sublime  as  they  were,  they 
quarrelled  and  grew  more  bitter.  The 
household  was  most  unhappy  when  the 
3ist  of  May  brought  them  other  cares, 
and  swept  away  their  domestic  bicker- 
ings in  the  public  disaster. 

So  far  as  I  know,  the  cruel  frank- 
ness of  Madame  de  Cleves  has  been 
imitated  by  no  other  woman  than 
Madame  Roland.  I  do  not  dare  to 
say  that  this  is  to  be  regretted ;  but 
however  it  may  be,  we  must  in  jus- 
tice remember  that  for  acting  as  she 
did,  Madame  Roland  had  not  such 
good  reasons  as  Madame  de  Cleves. 
Madame  de  Cleves  when  she  confided 
in  her  husband  asked  for  his  aid  in 


38  Preface. 

her  distress,  she  implored  his  support; 
Madame  Roland  merely  wanted  to  ex- 
pose her  passion,  —  and  those  are  two 
very  different  things.  As  for  Madame 
de  la  Fayette,  she  was  so  delighted 
with  these  tragic  confessions  that  she 
afterward  wrote  a  novel  simply  to  show 
another  woman  making  the  same  con- 
fession under  still  more  painful  circum- 
stances ;  for  she  is  guilty,  and  confesses 
to  her  husband  that  she  has  deceived 
him.  The  Countess  of  Tende,  who 
takes  her  husband  for  the  confidant  of 
her  weaknesses,  outdoes  even  Madame 
Roland  in  heroic  sincerity. 

She  is  another  candid  woman.  It 
is  amusing  that  these  candid  women 
should  have  sprung  from  the  imagina- 
tion of  a  woman  who  never  confessed 
even  to  her  confessor. 

ANATOLE  FRANCE. 


Preface.  39 

P.  S.  I  thought  that  I  had  kept  within 
bounds,  that  I  had  justly  admired  the  "  Prin- 
cess of  Cleves  "  and  justly  esteemed  Madame 
de  la  Fayette ;  but  justice  is  not  everything. 
To  a  masterpiece,  to  a  woman,  something 
besides  justice  is  due,  and  I  became  uneasy. 
I  feared  that  I  had  been  deficient  in  that 
politeness,  that  courtesy,  without  which  even 
the  belles-lettres  remain  rude  and  unpol- 
ished. Hence,  remembering  that  Auguste 
Comte  had  admitted  the  "Princess  of  Cleves" 
into  the  Positivist  Library,  I  took  the  lib- 
erty of  asking  the  heir  of  the  founder,  the 
venerable  leader  of  the  Positivists,  to  be  good 
enough  to  write  for  me  a  few  words  about 
this  princess,  which  he  admires,  as  I  know, 
with  an  intelligent  fervor.  Monsieur  Pierre 
Laffitte  was  kind  enough  to  reply;  and  here 
is  his  letter,  which  will  correct  my  preface. 
This  letter  is  just  what  I  expected  from  a 
philosopher  animated,  like  the  ancient  Epicu- 
rus, by  an  ardent  enthusiasm  for  reason. 


4O  Preface. 

PARIS,  December  28,  1888. 
[28  Bichat,  too  Gall  ] 

MY  DEAR  MONSIEUR  FRANCE,  —  I  am  glad  to 
see  that  you  have  written  about  the  "  Princess  of 
Cleves,"  and  I  am  sure  that  you  will  not  take  amiss 
a  few  observations,  not  on  its  literary  qualities,  for 
there  would  be  but  little  propriety  in  my  addressing 
you  on  this  score,  but  merely  on  the  state  of  mind 
which  this  masterpiece  indicates,  —  all  the  more 
that  it  does  this  without  premeditation. 

What  has  always  struck  me  in  reading  this  dis- 
tinguished product  of  the  female  mind  is  the 
complete  absence  of  everything  supernatural.  The 
name  of  God  is  not  once  mentioned ;  and  yet  the 
inner  working  of  human  life,  and  more  especially 
of  a  woman's  life,  is  portrayed  without  any  appear- 
ance of  strangeness  or  want  of  logic  ;  and  that  is  so 
true  that  no  one  before  me,  so  far  as  I  know,  has 
ever  noticed  this  absence  of  God.  Read  more 
particularly  that  wonderful  discussion  in  which 
Madame  de  Cleves  sets  forth  her  reasons  for  refus- 
ing to  marry  Monsieur  de  Nemours.  The  reasons 
influencing  her  in  forming  this  most  important 
decision  are  all  of  a  perfectly  natural  sort ;  she 


Preface.  4 1 

succeeds  in  overcoming  a  deep  and  lawful  attach- 
ment by  delicate  and  wise  motives.  The  absence 
of  the  supernatural  is  all  the  more  striking  here, 
from  the  fact  that  human  motives  assure  the  supe- 
riority of  reason  over  the  passions,  and  not  their 
mere  brutal  victory. 

It  is  evident  that  a  work  of  this  sort  portrays 
a  new  state  of  mental  equilibrium  attained  by  a 
woman,  —  it  is  true,  by  a  very  superior  woman,  — 
in  whom  life  is  controlled  by  the  appreciation  of 
the  consequences  of  our  actions,  without  thought 
of  any  supernatural  interference.  Women  of  a  rare 
type  have  reached  this  lofty  state,  in  which  life 
has  become  wise,  dignified,  and  delicate,  void  of 
fear  as  well  as  of  what,  for  the  sake  of  politeness, 
I  will  not  call  a  chimerical,  but  at  least  a  doubt- 
ful, hope.  For  this  is  not  peculiar  to  Madame 
de  la  Fayette  ;  read  Madame  de  Lambert's  "Advice 
to  my  Son,"  and  you  will  see  that,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  few  formulas  of  politeness  toward  God, 
every  motive  for  living  with  dignity  is  of  a  human 
sort.  Is  not  this  a  practical  demonstration  of  the 
possibility  of  conceiving  of  a  life,  not  only  honor- 
able but  lofty  and  delicate,  by  considerations  of  a 


42  Preface. 

merely  natural  order?  The  demonstration  is  all 
the  more  striking  because  it  is  in  no  way  systema- 
tic, —  no  attempt  is  made  to  prove  anything ;  it  is 
merely  described.  The  slow  evolution  of  human- 
ity has  produced  such  a  condition  in  superior 
souls,  —  which,  after  all,  are  only  in  advance  of  the 
rest ;  the  systematization  will  follow  later. 

Doubtless  I  shall  be  told  that  the  supernatural 
scaffolding  was  necessary  at  first.  —  I  grant  it ; 
but  they  at  least  have  succeeded  in  doing  without 
it.  Thus  man  does  not  really  belong  to  the  ani- 
mal kingdom.  This  becomes  serious  in  large 
societies ;  consequently,  the  leaders  of  our  race 
sought  at  first  to  provide  against  it.  But  they 
had  to  invoke  both  a  God  and  a  Devil  to  per- 
suade men  to  act  nobly.  At  the  present  time 
the  West  gets  along  without  fear  of  hell  or  hope 
of  paradise.  Why  may  not  the  evolution  accom- 
plished by  civilized  peoples  in  a  simple  case  be 
also  attained  in  more  complicated  cases?  The 
"  Princess  of  Cleves  "  furnishes  us  with  the  demon- 
stration, not  by  scholastic  rules,  but  by  a  living 
figure,  in  an  aesthetic  masterpiece ;  and  this  ab- 
sence of  God  helps  to  portray  the  final  victory 


Preface.  43 

of  reason  over  passion,  which  is  the  normal  type 
of  our  species. 

But  let  us  consider  the  opposite  opinion,  and 
by  discussing  art,  not  science.  Jean- Jacques 
Rousseau,  in  a  period  of  reaction,  introduced 
God  again ;  read  the  "  Nouvelle  Heloise,"  and  see 
what  a  part  he  makes  him  play  there :  it  must 
be  said,  with  all  possible  politeness,  that  it  is  a 
sorry  one.  God  intervenes  to  justify  tender  weak- 
nesses, or  at  least  to  accept  them  with  a  smiling 
tolerance.  And  in  the  nineteenth  century  how 
this  tendency  has  developed  !  In  George  Sand, 
when  women  wish  to  yield  gracefully,  God  is 
always  there  to  make  things  easy  for  them.  He 
has  to  play  a  singular  part.  We  are  very  far  from 
those  momentous  decisions  in  which  the  soul 
exercises  control,  such  as  Madame  de  la  Fayette 
described  with  a  thorough  knowledge  of  human 
nature. 

On  the  whole,  the  "  Princess  of  Cleves  "  seems  to 
me  the  most  perfect  work  that  ever  issued  from 
a  woman's  hand.  She  did  not  try  works  of  vast 
strength  in  any  direction,  but  in  her  own  field 
Madame  de  la  Fayette  had  complete  mastery. 


44  Preface. 

Her  book  will  be  read  so  long  as  there  shall  sur- 
vive men  of  taste  and  intelligence ;  it  is  a  pleas- 
ure to  feel  one's  self  m  communion  with  the 
chosen  spirits  who,  since  the  seventeenth  century, 
have  enjoyed  this  delightful  masterpiece,  and 
to  think  of  the  others  who,  after  us,  will  still 
enjoy  it. 

P.  LAFFITTE. 


THE    PRINCESS    OF    CLEVES. 


PART   I. 


r  I  "HERE  never  was  in  France  so  brilliant 
a  display  of  magnificence  and  gal- 
lantry as  during  the  last  years  of  the  reign  of 
Henri  II.  This  monarch  was  gallant,  hand- 
some, and  susceptible;  although  his  love  for 
Diane  de  Poitiers,  Duchess  of  Valentinois, 
had  lasted  twenty  years,  its  ardor  had  not 
diminished,  as  his  conduct  testified. 

He  was  remarkably  skilful  in  physical  ex- 
ercises, and  devoted  much  attention  to  them ; 
every  day  was  filled  with  hunting  and  tennis, 


48  The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

dancing,  running  at  the  ring,  and  sports  of 
that  kind.  The  favorite  colors  and  the 
initials  of  Madame  de  Valentinois  were  to  be 
seen  everywhere,  and  she  herself  used  to 
appear  dressed  as  richly  as  Mademoiselle  de 
la  Marck,  her  granddaughter,  who  was  then 
about  to  be  married. 

The  fact  that  the  queen  was  there,  accounted 
for  her  presence.  This  princess,  although  she 
had  passed  her  first  youth,  was  still  beautiful ; 
she  was  fond  of  splendor,  magnificence,  and 
pleasure.  The  king  had  married  her  while 
still  Duke  of  Orleans,  in  the  lifetime  of  his 
elder  brother,  the  dauphin,  who  afterward 
died  at  Tournon,  mourned  as  a  worthy  heir 
to  the  position  of  Francis  I.,  his  father. 

The  queen's  ambition  made  her  like  to 
reign.  She  seemed  indifferent  to  the  king's 
attachment  to  the  Duchess  of  Valentinois, 
and  never  betrayed  any  jealousy;  but  she 
was  so  skilled  a  dissembler  that  it  was  hard 
to  discover  her  real  feelings,  and  she  was 
compelled  by  policy  to  keep  the  duchess 


The  Princess  of  Cloves.          49 

near  her  if  she  wanted  to  see  anything  of  the 
king.  As  for  him,  he  liked  the  society  of 
women,  even  of  those  with  whom  he  was  not 
at  all  in  love.  He  was  with  the  queen  every 
day  at  her  audience,  when  all  the  most  at- 
tractive lords  and  ladies  were  sure  to  appear. 
At  no  court  had  there  ever  been  gathered 
together  so  many  lovely  women  and  brave 
men.  It  seemed  as  if  Nature  had  made  an 
effort  to  show  her  highest  beauty  in  the 
greatest  lords  and  ladies.  Madame  Elisa- 
beth of  France,  afterwards  queen  of  Spain, 
began  to  show  her  wonderful  intelligence 
and  that  unrivalled  beauty  which  was  so 
fatal  to  her.  Mary  Stuart,  the  queen  of 
Scotland,  who  had  just  married  the  dauphin 
and  was  called  the  crown  princess,  or  dau- 
phiness,  was  faultless  in  mind  and  body. 
She  had  been  brought  up  at  the  French 
court  and  had  acquired  all  its  polish;  she 
was  endowed  by  Nature  with  so  strong  a 
love  for  the  softer  graces  that  in  spite  of  her 
youth  she  admired  and  understood  them 

VOL.    I.  —  4 


50  The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

perfectly.  Her  mother-in-law,  the  queen, 
and  Madame,  the  king's  sister,  were  also  fond 
of  poetry,  of  comedy,  and  of  music.  The 
interest  which  King  Francis  I.  had  felt  in 
poetry  and  letters  still  prevailed  in  France, 
and  since  the  king,  his  son,  was  devoted  to 
physical  exercise,  pleasures  of  all  sorts  were 
to  be  found  at  the  court.  But  what  rendered 
the  court  especially  fine  and  majestic  was  the 
great  number  of  princes  and  lords  of  excep- 
tional merit ;  those  I  am  about  to  name  were, 
in  their  different  ways,  the  ornament  and  the 
admiration  of  their  age. 

The  King  of  Navarre  inspired  universal  re- 
spect by  his  exalted  rank  and  his  royal 
bearing.  He  excelled  in  the  art  of  war;  but 
the  Duke  of  Guise  had  shown  himself  so 
strong  a  rival  that  he  had  often  laid  aside  his 
command  to  enter  the  duke's  service  as  a 
private  soldier  in  the  most  dangerous  battles. 
This  duke  had  manifested  such  admirable 
bravery  with  such  remarkable  success  that 
he  was  an  object  of  envy  to  every  great 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.  51 

commander.  He  had  many  conspicuous 
qualities  besides  his  personal  courage,  —  he 
possessed  a  vast  and  profound  intelligence, 
a  noble,  lofty  mind,  and  equal  capacity  for 
war  and  affairs.  His  brother,  the  Cardinal 
of  Lorraine,  was  born  with  an  unbridled  am- 
bition, and  had  acquired  vast  learning;  this  he 
turned  to  his  profit  by  using  it  in  defence  of 
Catholicism,  which  had  begun  to  be  attacked. 
The  Chevalier  de  Guise,  afterwards  known 
as  the  Grand  Prior,  was  loved  by  all ;  he  was 
handsome,  witty,  clever,  and  his  courage  was 
renowned  throughout  Europe.  The  short, 
ill-favored  body  of  the  Prince  of  Conde  held 
a  great  and  haughty  soul,  and  an  intelligence 
that  endeared  him  to  even  the  most  beautiful 
women.  The  Duke  of  Nevers,  famous  for 
his  military  prowess  and  his  important  ser- 
vices to  the  state,  though  somewhat  advanced 
in  years  was  adored  by  all  the  court.  He  had 
three  handsome  sons,  —  the  second,  known  as 
the  Prince  of  Cleves,  was  worthy  to  bear  that 
proud  title;  he  was  brave  and  grand,  and 


52  The  Princess  of  Cloves. 

was  withal  endowed  with  a  prudence  rare  in 
the  young.  The  Vidame  of  Chartres,  a  scion 
of  the  old  house  of  Vend6me,  a  name  not  de- 
spised by  princes  of  the  blood,  had  won  equal 
triumphs  in  war  and  gallantry ;  he  was  hand- 
some, attractive,  brave,  hardy,  generous ;  all 
his  good  qualities  were  distinct  and  striking,  — 
in  short,  he  was  the  only  man  fit  to  be  com- 
pared, if  such  comparison  be  possible,  with 
the  Duke  of  Nemours.  This  nobleman  was 
a  masterpiece  of  Nature ;  the  least  of  his  fas- 
cinations was  his  extreme  beauty;  he  was  the 
handsomest  man  in  the  world.  What  made 
him  superior  to  every  one  else  was  his  un- 
rivalled courage  and  a  charm  manifested  in 
his  mind,  his  expression,  and  his  actions, 
such  as  no  other  showed.  He  possessed  a 
certain  playfulness  that  was  equally  attractive 
to  men  and  women ;  he  was  unusually  skil- 
ful in  physical  exercises;  and  he  dressed  in 
a  way  that  every  one  tried  in  vain  to  imi- 
tate ;  moreover,  his  bearing  was  such  that  all 
eyes  followed  him  wherever  he  appeared. 


The  Princess  of  C I  eves.          53 

There  was  no  lady  in  the  court  who  would 
not  have  been  flattered  by  his  attentions; 
few  of  those  to  whom  he  had  devoted  himself 
could  boast  of  having  resisted  him ;  and  even 
many  in  whom  he  had  shown  no  interest 
made  very  clear  their  affection  for  him.  He 
was  so  gentle  and  courteous  that  he  could 
not  refuse  some  attentions  to  those  who  tried 
to  please  him,  —  hence  he  had  many  mis- 
tresses; but  it  was  hard  to  say  whom  he 
really  loved.  He  was  often  to  be  seen  with 
the  dauphiness;  her  beauty,  her  gentleness, 
her  desire  to  please  every  one,  and  the  es- 
pecial regard  she  showed  for  this  prince, 
made  some  imagine  that  he  dared  to  raise 
his  eyes  to  her.  The  Guises,  whose  niece 
she  was,  had  acquired  influence  and  position 
by  her  marriage ;  they  aspired  to  an  equality 
with  the  princes  of  the  blood  and  to  a  share 
of  the  power  exercised  by  the  Constable  of 
Montmorency.  It  was  to  the  constable  that 
the  king  confided  the  greater  part  of  the  cares 
of  state,  while  he  treated  the  Duke  of  Guise 


54  The  Princess  of  C I  eves. 

and  the  Marshal  of  Saint-Andre  as  his  favor- 
ites. But  those  attached  to  his  person  by 
favor  or  position  could  only  keep  their  place 
by  submitting  to  the  Duchess  of  Valentinois, 
who,  although  no  longer  young  or  beautiful, 
ruled  him  so  despotically  that  she  may  be 
said  to  have  been  the  mistress  of  his  person 
and  of  the  state. 

The  king  had  always  loved  the  constable, 
and  at  the  beginning  of  his  reign  had  sum- 
moned him  from  the  exile  into  which  he 
had  been  sent  by  Francis  I.  The  court 
was  divided  between  the  Guises  and  the 
constable,  who  was  the  favorite  of  the 
princes  of  the  blood.  Both  parties  had 
always  struggled  for  the  favor  of  the 
Duchess  of  Valentinois.  The  Duke  of  Au- 
male,  brother  of  the  Duke  of  Guise,  had 
married  one  of  her  daughters.  The  con- 
stable aspired  to  the  same  alliance,  not  sat- 
isfied with  having  married  his  eldest  son  to 
Madame  Diane,  a  daughter  of  the  king  by 
a  lady  of  Piedmont  who  entered  a  convent 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.          55 

after  the  birth  of  her  child.  The  promises 
which  Monsieur  de  Montmorency  had  made 
to  Mademoiselle  de  Piennes,  one  of  the 
queen's  maids-of-honor,  had  proved  a  seri- 
ous obstacle  to  this  match ;  and  although 
the  king  had  removed  it  with  extreme  pa- 
tience and  kindness,  the  constable  still  felt 
insecure  until  he  had  won  over  the  Duchess 
of  Valentinois  and  had  separated  her  from 
the  Guises,  whose  greatness  had  begun  to 
alarm  her.  She  had  delayed  in  every  way 
in  her  power  the  marriage  between  the 
dauphin  and  the  Queen  of  Scotland;  this 
young  queen's  beauty  and  intelligence,  and 
the  position  given  to  the  Guises  by  this  mar- 
riage, were  very  odious  to  her.  She  espe- 
cially detested  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  who 
had  addressed  her  in  bitter,  even  contemptu- 
ous terms.  She  saw  that  he  was  intriguing 
with  the  queen ;  hence  the  constable  found  her 
ready  to  join  forces  with  him  by  bringing  about 
the  marriage  of  Mademoiselle  de  la  Marck, 
her  granddaughter,  to  Monsieur  d'Anville, 


56  The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

his  second  son,  who  succeeded  to  his  post 
in  the  reign  of  Charles  IX.  The  constable 
did  not  expect  that  Monsieur  d'Anville  would 
have  any  objections  to  this  marriage,  as  had 
been  the  case  with  Monsieur  de  Montmo- 
rency ;  but  though  the  reasons  were  more 
hidden,  the  difficulties  were  no  less  obstinate. 
Monsieur  d'Anville  was  desperately  in  love 
with  the  crown  princess;  and  although  his 
passion  was  hopeless,  he  could  not  persuade 
himself  to  contract  other  ties.  The  Marshal 
of  Saint-Andre"  was  almost  the  only  courtier 
who  had  taken  sides  with  neither  faction ; 
he  was  one  of  the  favorites,  but  this  position 
he  held  simply  by  his  own  merits.  Ever 
since  he  had  been  the  dauphin,  the  king 
had  been  attached  to  this  nobleman,  and  later 
had  made  him  marshal  of  France,  at  an  age 
when  men  are  satisfied  with  lesser  honors. 
His  advance  gave  him  a  distinction  which 
he  maintained  by  his  personal  worth  and 
charm,  by  a  costly  table  and  rich  surround- 
ings, and  by  more  splendor  than  any  private 


The  Princess  of  Cloves.          57 

individual  had  yet  displayed.  The  king's 
generosity  warranted  this  sumptuousness. 
There  was  no  limit  to  this  monarch's  gen- 
erosity to  those  he  loved.  He  did  not  pos- 
sess every  great  quality,  but  he  had  many, 
and  among  them  the  love  of  war  and  a 
good  knowledge  of  it.  This  accounted  for 
his  many  successes ;  and  if  we  except  the 
battle  of  St.  Quentin,  his  reign  was  an  un- 
broken series  of  victories.  He  had  won  the 
battle  of  Renty  in  person,  Piedmont  had 
been  conquered,  the  English  had  been 
driven  from  France,  and  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.  had  seen  his  good  fortune  desert 
him  before  the  city  of  Metz,  which  he  had 
besieged  in  vain  with  all  the  forces  of  the 
Empire  and  of  Spain.  Nevertheless,  since 
the  defeat  of  St.  Quentin  had  diminished  our 
hope  of  conquest,  and  fortune  seemed  to 
favor  one  king  as  much  as  the  other,  they 
were  gradually  led  to  favor  peace. 

The  Dowager  Duchess  of  Lorraine  had  be- 
gun to  lead  the  way  to  a  cessation  of  hos- 


58  The  Princess  of  Cloves. 

tilities  at  the  time  of  the  dauphin's  marriage, 
and  ever  since  then  there  had  been  secret 
negotiations.  At  last  Cercamp,  in  the  Pro- 
vince of  Artois,  was  chosen  as  the  place  of 
meeting.  The  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  the 
constable,  and  the  Marshal  of  Saint-Andre 
appeared  in  behalf  of  the  King  of  France ; 
the  Duke  of  Alvaand  the  Prince  of  Orange  in 
behalf  of  Philip  II.  The  Duke  and  Duchess 
of  Lorraine  were  the  mediators.  The  leading 
articles  were  the  marriage  of  Madame  Elisa- 
beth of  France  to  Don  Carlos,  Infanta  of 
Spain,  and  that  of  Madame,  the  king's  sister, 
with  Monsieur  de  Savoie. 

Meanwhile  the  king  remained  on  the  fron- 
tier, and  there  heard  of  the  death  of  Mary, 
queen  of  England.  He  sent  the  Count  of 
Randan  to  Elizabeth  to  congratulate  her  on 
ascending  the  throne.  She  was  very  glad  to 
receive  him,  because  her  rights  were  so  inse- 
cure that  it  was  of  great  service  to  her  to 
have  them  acknowledged  by  the  king.  The 
count  found  her  well  informed  about  the 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.          59 

interests  of  France  and  the  capabilities  of 
those  who  composed  the  court,  but  especially 
familiar  with  the  reputation  of  the  Duke  of 
Nemours.  She  spoke  of  this  nobleman  so 
often  and  with  such  warmth  that  when  Mon- 
sieur de  Randan  returned  and  recounted  his 
journey  to  the  king,  he  told  him  that  there 
was  nothing  to  which  Monsieur  de  Nemours 
could  not  aspire,  and  that  she  would  be 
capable  of  marrying  him.  That  very  eve- 
ning the  king  spoke  to  this  nobleman,  and 
made  Monsieur  de  Randan  repeat  to  him 
his  conversation  with  Elizabeth,  urging  him 
to  essay  this  great  fortune.  At  first  Mon- 
sieur de  Nemours  thought  that  the  king  was 
jesting;  but  when  he  saw  his  mistake  he 
said,  — 

"  At  any  rate,  sire,  if  I  undertake  a  fan- 
tastic enterprise  under  the  advice  and  in 
behalf  of  your  Majesty,  I  beg  of  you  to 
keep  it  secret  until  success  shall  justify  me 
before  the  public,  and  to  guard  me  from 
appearing  vain  enough  to  suppose  that  a 


60  The  Princess  of  Cloves. 

queen  who  has  never  seen  me  should  wish 
to  marry  me  from  love." 

The  king  promised  to  speak  of  the  plan 
to  no  one  but  the  constable,  and  agreed 
that  secrecy  was  essential  for  its  success. 
Monsieur  de  Randan  advised  Monsieur  de 
Nemours  to  visit  England  as  a  simple  trav- 
eller; but  the  latter  could  not  make  up  his 
mind  to  do  this.  He  sent  Lignerolles,  an  in- 
telligent young  man,  one  of  his  favorites, 
to  ascertain  the  queen's  feeling  and  to  try 
to  open  the  matter.  Meanwhile  he  went  to 
see  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  who  was  then  at 
Brussels  with  the  King  of  Spain.  The  death 
of  Mary  of  England  raised  great  obstacles  to 
any  treaty  of  peace ;  the  commission  broke 
up  at  the  end  of  November,  and  the  king 
returned  to  Paris. 

At  that  moment  there  appeared  at  court  a 
young  lady  to  whom  all  eyes  were  turned,  and 
we  may  well  believe  that  she  was  possessed  of 
faultless  beauty,  since  she  aroused  admiration 
where  all  were  well  accustomed  to  the  sight 


The  Princess  of  Cloves.  61 

of  handsome  women.  Of  the  same  family 
as  the  Vidame  of  Chartres,  she  was  one  of 
the  greatest  heiresses  in  France.  Her  father 
had  died  young,  leaving  her  under  the  charge 
of  his  wife,  Madame  de  Chartres,  whose 
kindness,  virtue,  and  worth  were  beyond 
praise.  After  her  husband's  death  she  had 
withdrawn  from  court  for  many  years ;  during 
this  period  she  had  devoted  herself  to  the 
education  of  her  daughter,  not  merely  culti- 
vating her  mind  and  her  beauty,  but  also 
seeking  to  inspire  her  with  the  love  of  virtue 
and  to  make  her  attractive.  Most  mothers 
imagine  that  it  is  enough  never  to  speak  of 
gallantry  to  their  daughters  to  guard  them 
from  it  forever.  Madame  de  Chartres  was 
of  a  very  different  opinion ;  she  often  drew 
pictures  of  love  to  her  daughter,  showing 
her  its  fascinations,  in  order  to  give  her  a 
better  understanding  of  its  perils.  She  told 
her  how  insincere  men  are,  how  false  and  de- 
ceitful ;  she  described  the  domestic  miseries 
which  illicit  love-affairs  entail,  and,  on  the 


62  The  Princess  of  Cloves. 

other  hand,  pictured  to  her  the  peaceful  hap- 
piness of  a  virtuous  woman's  life,  as  well  as 
the  distinction  and  elevation  which  virtue 
gives  to  a  woman  of  rank  and  beauty.  She 
taught  her,  too,  how  hard  it  was  to  preserve 
this  virtue  without  extreme  care,  and  with- 
out that  one  sure  means  of  securing  a  wife's 
happiness,  which  is  to  love  her  husband  and 
to  be  loved  by  him. 

This  heiress  was,  then,  one  of  the  greatest 
matches  in  France,  and  although  she  was 
very  young,  many  propositions  of  marriage 
had  been  made  to  her.  Madame  de  Chartres, 
who  was  extremely  proud,  found  almost 
nothing  worthy  of  her  daughter,  and  the 
girl  being  in  her  sixteenth  year,  she  was 
anxious  to  take  her  to  court.  The  Vidame 
went  to  welcome  her  on  her  arrival,  and 
was  much  struck  by  the  marvellous  beauty 
of  Mademoiselle  de  Chartres,  —  and  with 
good  reason  :  her  delicate  complexion 
and  her  blond  hair  gave  her  a  unique  bril- 
liancy; her  features  were  regular,  and  her 


The  Princess  of  C I  eves.  63 

face    and    person    were    full    of    grace    and 
charm. 

The  day  after  her  arrival  she  went  to  match 
some  precious  stones  at  the  house  of  an 
Italian  who  dealt  in  them.  He  had  come 
from  Florence  with  the  queen,  and  had 
grown  so  rich  by  his  business  that  his 
house  seemed  that  of  some  great  nobleman 
rather  than  of  a  merchant.  The  Prince  of 
Cleves  happened  to  come  in  while  she  was 
there ;  he  was  so  struck  by  her  beauty  that 
he  could  not  conceal  his  surprise,  and  Made- 
moiselle de  Chartres  could  not  keep  from 
blushing  when  she  saw  his  astonishment:  she 
succeeded,  however,  in  regaining  her  com- 
posure without  paying  any  further  atten- 
tion to  the  prince  than  civility  required  for  a 
man  of  his  evident  importance.  Monsieur  de 
Cleves  gazed  at  her  admiringly,  wondering 
who  this  beauty  was  whom  he  did  not  know. 
He  perceived  from  her  bearing  and  her  suite 
that  she  must  be  a  lady  of  high  rank.  She 
was  so  young  that  he  thought  she  must  be 


64  The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

unmarried;  but  since  she  had  not  her 
mother  with  her,  and  the  Italian,  who  did 
not  know  her,  addressed  her  as  "  madame," 
he  was  in  great  doubt,  and  stared  at  her 
with  continual  surprise.  He  saw  that  his 
glances  embarrassed  her,  unlike  most  young 
women,  who  always  take  pleasure  in  seeing 
the  effect  of  their  beauty ;  it  even  seemed  to 
him  that  his  presence  made  her  anxious  to 
go  away,  and  in  fact  she  left  very  soon.  Mon- 
sieur de  Cleves  consoled  himself  for  her  de- 
parture with  the  hope  of  finding  out  who  she 
was,  and  was  much  disappointed  to  learn 
that  no  one  knew.  He  was  so  struck  by  her 
beauty  and  evident  modesty  that  from  that 
moment  he  conceived  for  her  the  greatest 
love  and  esteem.  That  evening  he  called 
on  Madame,  the  king's  sister. 

This  princess  was  held  in  high  esteem  on 
account  of  her  influence  with  the  king,  her 
brother;  and  this  influence  was  so  great  that 
when  the  king  made  peace  he  consented  to 
restore  Piedmont  to  enable  her  to  marry 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.  65 

Monsieur  de  Savoie.  Although  she  had 
always  meant  to  marry,  she  had  determined 
to  give  her  hand  to  none  but  a  sovereign, 
and  had  for  that  reason  refused  the  King  of 
Navarre  when  he  was  Duke  of  Vend6me,  and 
had  always  felt  an  interest  in  Monsieur  de 
Savoie  after  seeing  him  at  Nice  on  the  oc- 
casion of  the  interview  between  Francis  I. 
and  Pope  Paul  III.  Since  she  possessed 
great  intelligence  and  a  fine  taste,  she  drew 
pleasant  persons  about  her,  and  at  certain 
hours  the  whole  court  used  to  visit  her. 

Thither  Monsieur  de  Cleves  went,  as  was 
his  habit.  He  was  so  full  of  the  wit  and 
beauty  of  Mademoiselle  de  Chartres  that  he 
could  speak  of  nothing  else ;  he  talked  freely 
of  his  adventure,  and  set  no  limit  to  his  praise 
of  the  young  woman  he  had  seen  but  did  not 
know.  Madame  said  to  him  that  there  was 
no  such  person  as  he  described,  and  that  if 
there  were,  every  one  would  have  known 
about  her.  Madame  de  Dampierre,  her  lady- 
in-waiting  and  a  friend  of  Madame  de  Chartres, 
VOL.  i.  —  5 


66  The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

when  she  heard  the  conversation  moved  near 
the  princess  and  said  to  her  in  a  low  voice  that 
doubtless  it  was  Mademoiselle  de  Chartres 
whom  Monsieur  de  Cleves  had  seen.  Madame 
turned  towards  him  and  said  that  if  he  would 
return  the  next  day,  she  would  show  him  this 
beauty  who  had  so  impressed  him.  Made- 
moiselle de  Chartres  made  her  appearance  the 
next  day.  The  queen  received  her  with  every 
imaginable  attention,  and  she  was  greeted  with 
such  admiration  by  every  one  that  she  heard 
around  her  nothing  but  praise.  This  she  re- 
ceived with  such  noble  modesty  that  she 
seemed  not  to  hear  it,  or  at  least  not  to  be 
affected  by  it.  Then  she  visited  the  apart- 
ments of  Madame,  the  king's  sister.  The 
princess,  after  praising  her  beauty,  told  her 
the  surprise  she  had  given  to  Monsieur 
de  Cleves.  A  moment  after,  that  person 
appeared. 

"  Come,"  she  said  to  him,  "  see  if  I  have 
not  kept  my  word,  and  if,  when  I  point  out 
Mademoiselle  de  Chartres  to  you,  I  do  not 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.  67 

show  you  the  beauty  you  sought;  at  any 
rate,  thank  me  for  telling  her  how  much 
you  already  admire  her." 

Monsieur  de  Cleves  was  filled  with  joy  to 
find  that  this  young  woman  whom  he  had 
found  so  attractive  was  of  a  rank  proportionate 
to  her  beauty.  He  went  up  to  her  and  asked 
her  to  remember  that  he  had  been  the  first  to 
admire  her,  and  that  without  knowing  her 
he  had  felt  all  the  respect  and  esteem  that 
were  her  due. 

The  Chevalier  de  Guise,  his  friend,  and  he 
left  the  house  together.  At  first  they  praised 
Mademoiselle  de  Chartres  without  stint ;  then 
they  found  that  they  were  praising  her  too 
much,  and  both  stopped  saying  what  they 
thought  of  her:  but  they  were  compelled  to 
talk  about  her  on  the  following  days  wherever 
they  met.  This  new  beauty  was  for  a  long 
time  the  general  subject  of  conversation. 
The  queen  praised  her  warmly  and  showed 
an  extraordinary  regard  for  her;  the  dau- 
phiness  made  her  one  of  her  favorites,  and 


68  T/ie  Princess  of  Cleves. 

begged  Madame  de  Chartres  to  bring  her  to 
see  her  very  often ;  the  daughters  of  the 
king  invited  her  to  all  their  entertainments,  — 
in  short,  she  was  loved  and  admired  by  the 
whole  court,  except  by  Madame  de  Valen- 
tinois.  It  was  not  that  this  new  beauty  gave 
her  any  uneasiness,  —  her  long  experience 
had  made  her  sure  of  the  king,  —  but  she  so 
hated  the  Vidame  of  Chartres,  whom  she  had 
desired  to  ally  with  herself  by  the  marriage 
of  one  of  her  daughters,  while  he  had  joined 
the  queen's  party,  that  she  could  not  look 
with  favor  on  any  one  who  bore  his  name 
and  seemed  to  enjoy  his  friendship. 

The  Prince  of  Cloves  fell  passionately  in 
love  with  Mademoiselle  de  Chartres,  and  was 
eager  to  marry  her;  but  he  feared  lest  the 
pride  of  Madame  de  Chartres  should  prevent 
her  from  giving  her  daughter  to  a  man  who 
was  not  the  eldest  of  his  family.  Yet  this 
family  was  so  distinguished,  and  the  Count 
of  Eu,  who  was  the  head  of  the  house,  had 
just  married  a  woman  so  near  to  royalty,  that 


The  Princess  of  Cloves.  69 

it  was  timidity  rather  than  any  true  reason 
that  inspired  the  fear  of  Monsieur  de  Cleves. 
He  had  many  rivals ;  the  Chevalier  de  Guise 
seemed  to  him  the  most  formidable,  on 
account  of  his  birth,  his  ability,  and  the 
brilliant  position  of  his  family.  This  prince 
had  fallen  in  love  with  Mademoiselle  de 
Chartres  the  first  day  he  saw  her;  he  had 
noticed  the  passion  of  Monsieur  de  Cleves 
just  as  the  latter  had  noticed  his.  Though 
the  two  men  were  friends,  the  separation 
which  resulted  from  this  rivalry  gave  them 
no  chance  to  explain  themselves,  and  their 
friendship  cooled  without  their  having  cour- 
age to  come  to  an  understanding.  The 
good  fortune  of  Monsieur  de  Cleves  in 
being  the  first  to  see  Mademoiselle  de 
Chartres  seemed  to  him  a  happy  omen,  and 
to  promise  him  some  advantage  over  his 
rivals ;  but  he  foresaw  serious  obstacles  on 
the  part  of  the  Duke  of  Nevers,  his  father. 
This  duke  was  bound  to  the  Duchess  of 
Valentinois  by  many  ties ;  she  was  an 


70  The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

enemy  of  the  Vidame,  and  this  was  reason 
enough  to  prevent  the  Duke  of  Nevers  from 
consenting  that  his  son  should  think  of  that 
nobleman's  niece. 

Madame  de  Chartres,  who  had  already 
taken  such  pains  to  fill  her  daughter  with  a 
love  of  virtue,  did  not  remit  them  in  this 
place  where  they  were  still  so  necessary,  and 
bad  examples  were  so  frequent.  Ambi- 
tion and  gallantry  were  the  sole  occupation 
of  the  court,  busying  men  and  women  alike. 
There  were  so  many  interests  and  so  many 
different  intrigues  in  which  women  took  part 
that  love  was  always  mingled  with  politics, 
and  politics  with  love.  No  one  was  calm 
or  indifferent;  every  one  sought  to  rise,  to 
please,  to  serve,  or  to  injure;  no  one  was 
weary  or  idle,  every  one  was  taken  up  with 
pleasure  or  intrigue.  The  ladies  had  their 
special  interest  in  the  queen,  in  the  crown 
princess,  in  the  Queen  of  Navarre,  in  Madame 
the  king's  sister,  or  in  the  Duchess  of  Va- 
lentinois,  according  to  their  inclinations,  their 


The  Princess  of  Cloves.  71 

sense  of  right,  or  their  humor.  Those  who 
had  passed  their  first  youth  and  assumed 
an  austere  virtue,  were  devoted  to  the  queen ; 
those  who  were  younger  and  sought  pleasure 
and  gallantry,  paid  their  court  to  the  crown 
princess.  The  Queen  of  Navarre  had  her 
favorites;  she  was  young,  and  had  much 
influence  over  her  husband  the  king,  who 
was  allied  with  the  constable,  and  hence 
highly  esteemed.  Madame  the  king's  sister 
still  preserved  some  of  her  beauty,  and 
gathered  several  ladies  about  herself.  The 
Duchess  of  Valentinois  was  sought  by  all 
those  whom  she  deigned  to  regard ;  but  the 
women  she  liked  were  few,  and  with  the 
exception  of  those  who  enjoyed  her  inti- 
macy and  confidence,  and  whose  disposi- 
tion bore  some  likeness  to  her  own,  she 
received  only  on  the  days  when  she  as- 
sumed to  hold  a  court  like  the  queen. 

All  these  different  cliques  were  separated 
by  rivalry  and  envy.  Then,  too,  the  women 
who  belonged  to  each  one  of  them  were 


72  The  Princess  of  Cloves. 

also  jealous  of  one  another,  either  about  their 
chances  of  advancement,  or  about  their  lov- 
ers; often  their  interests  were  complicated 
by  other  pettier,  but  no  less  important  ques- 
tions. Hence  there  was  in  this  court  a  sort 
of  well-ordered  agitation,  which  rendered  it 
very  charming,  but  also  very  dangerous,  for 
a  young  woman.  Madame  de  Chartres  saw 
this  peril,  and  thought  only  of  protecting 
her  daughter  from  it.  She  besought  her, 
not  as  a  mother,  but  as  a  friend,  to  confide 
to  her  all  the  sweet  speeches  that  might 
be  made  to  her,  and  promised  her  aid  in 
all  those  matters  which  so  often  embarrass 
the  young. 

The  Chevalier  de  Guise  made  his  feelings  for 
Mademoiselle  de  Chartres  and  his  intentions 
so  manifest  that  every  one  could  see  them; 
yet  he  well  knew  the  very  grave  difficulties 
that  stood  in  his  way.  He  was  aware  that 
he  was  not  a  desirable  match,  because  his 
fortune  was  too  small  for  his  rank.  He  knew, 
too,  that  his  brothers  would  disapprove  of  his 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.          .73 

marrying,  through  fear  of  the  loss  of  posi- 
tion which  sometimes  befalls  great  families 
through  the  marriage  of  younger  sons.  The 
Cardinal  of  Lorraine  soon  proved  to  him 
that  his  fears  were  well  grounded,  for  he  de- 
nounced the  chevalier's  love  for  Mademoiselle 
de  Chartres  very  warmly,  though  he  concealed 
his  true  reasons.  The  cardinal  nourished  a 
hatred  for  the  Vidame,  which  was  hidden  at 
the  time,  and  only  broke  out  later.  He 
would  have  preferred  to  see  his  brother  ally 
himself  with  any  other  family  than  that  of 
the  Vidame,  and  gave  such  public  expression 
to  his  dislike  that  Madame  de  Chartres  was 
plainly  offended.  She  took  great  pains  to 
show  that  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine  had  no 
cause  for  fear,  and  that  she  herself  never  con- 
templated the  match.  The  Vidame  adopted 
the  same  course,  and  with  a  better  under- 
standing of  the  cardinal's  objection,  because 
he  knew  the  underlying  reason. 

The   Prince  of  Cleves  had  concealed   his 
passion  quite  as  little  as  had  the  Chevalier  de 


74  The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

Guise.  The  Duke  of  Nevers  was  sorry  to 
hear  of  this  attachment,  but  thought  that  his 
son  would  forget  it  at  a  word  from  him ; 
great  was  his  surprise  when  he  found  him 
determined  to  marry  Mademoiselle  de  Char- 
tres.  He  opposed  this  determination  with 
a  warmth  so  ill  concealed  that  the  whole 
court  soon  had  wind  of  it,  and  it  came  to 
the  knowledge  of  her  mother.  She  had 
never  doubted  that  Monsieur  de  Nevers 
would  regard  this  match  as  an  advantageous 
one  for  his  son,  and  was  much  surprised  that 
both  the  house  of  Cleves  and  that  of  Guise 
dreaded  the  alliance  instead  of  desiring  it. 
She  was  so  chagrined  that  she  sought  to 
marry  her  daughter  to  some  one  who  could 
raise  her  above  those  who  fancied  them- 
selves superior  to  her;  and  after  carefully 
going  over  the  ground,  pitched  on  the  prince 
dauphin,  the  son  of  the  Duke  of  Montpen- 
sier.  He  was  of  the  right  age  to  marry,  and 
held  the  highest  position  at  court.  Since 
Madame  de  Chartres  was  a  very  clever 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.  75 

woman,  and  was  aided  by  the  Vidame, 
who  at  that  time  had  great  influence,  while 
her  daughter  was  in  every  way  a  good 
match,  she  played  her  cards  so  cleverly  and 
successfully  that  Monsieur  de  Montpensier 
appeared  to  desire  the  marriage,  and  it 
seemed  as  if  nothing  could  stand  in  its 
way. 

The  Vidame,  though  aware  of  Monsieur 
d'Anville's  devotion  to  the  crown  princess, 
still  thought  that  he  might  make  use  of  the  in- 
fluence which  she  had  over  him  to  induce  him 
to  speak  well  of  Mademoiselle  de  Chartres  to 
the  king  and  to  the  Prince  of  Montpensier, 
whose  intimate  friend  he  was.  He  men- 
tioned this  to  the  princess,  who  took  up  the 
matter  eagerly,  since  it  promised  advance- 
ment to  a  young  woman  of  whom  she  had  be- 
come very  fond.  This  she  told  the  Vidame, 
assuring  him  that  though  she  knew  she 
should  offend  her  uncle,  the  Cardinal  of 
Lorraine,  this  would  be  no  objection,  be- 
cause she  had  good  grounds  for  disliking 


7  6  The  Princess  of  C I  eves. 

him,    since    he     every    day    furthered    the 
queen's  interests  in  opposition  to  her  own. 

Persons  in  love  are  always  glad  of  any  ex- 
cuse for  talking  about  the  object  of  their 
affection.  As  soon  as  the  Vidame  had  gone, 
the  crown  princess  ordered  Chatelart,  the 
favorite  of  Monsieur  d'Anville  and  the  confi- 
dant of  his  love  for  her,  to  tell  him  to  be  at  the 
queen's  reception  that  evening.  Chatelart 
received  this  command  with  great  delight. 
He  belonged  to  a  good  family  of  Dauphin6, 
but  his  merit  and  intelligence  had  raised  him 
to  a  higher  place  than  his  birth  warranted. 
He  was  received  and  treated  with  kindness 
by  all  the  great  lords  at  the  court,  and  the 
favor  of  the  family  of  Montmorency  had  at- 
tached him  especially  to  Monsieur  d'Anville. 
He  was  handsome  and  skilled  in  all  physical 
exercises;  he  sang  agreeably,  wrote  verses, 
and  had  a  gallant,  ardent  nature,  which  so  at- 
tracted Monsieur  d'Anville  that  he  made  him 
a  confidant  of  his  love  for  the  crown  princess. 
The  confidence  brought  him  into  the  society 


The  Princess  of  C lives.  77 

of  that  lady,  and  thus  began  that  unhappy 
passion,  which  robbed  him  of  his  reason  and 
finally  cost  him  his  life. 

Monsieur  d'Anville  did  not  fail  to  make 
his  appearance  that  evening  in  the  queen's 
drawing-room ;  he  was  pleased  that  the 
dauphiness  had  chosen  him  to  aid  her,  and 
he  promised  faithfully  to  obey  her  commands. 
But  Madame  de  Valentinois  had  heard  of  the 
contemplated  marriage  and  had  laid  her 
plans  to  thwart  it;  she  had  been  so  success- 
ful in  arousing  the  king's  opposition  that 
when  Monsieur  d'Anville  spoke  of  it,  he 
showed  his  disapproval,  and  commanded  him 
to  apprise  the  Prince  of  Montpensier  of  it. 
It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  feelings  of  Ma- 
dame de  Chartres  at  the  failure  of  a  plan 
she  had  so  much  desired,  especially  when  her 
ill-success  gave  so  great  an  advantage  to 
her  enemies  and  did  so  much  harm  to  her 
daughter. 

The  crown  princess  kindly  expressed  to 
Mademoiselle  de  Chartres  her  regrets  at  not 


78  The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

being  able  to  further  her  interests.  "  You 
see,"  she  said,  "  I  have  but  very  little 
power;  I  am  so  detested  by  the  queen  and 
the  Duchess  of  Valentinois  that  they  or 
their  attendants  always  oppose  everything 
I  desire.  Still,"  she  added,  "  I  have  always 
tried  to  please  them,  and  they  hate  me  only 
on  account  of  my  mother,  who  used  to  fill 
them  with  uneasiness  and  jealousy.  The 
king  had  been  in  love  with  her  before 
he  loved  Madame  de  Valentinois,  and 
in  his  early  married  life,  before  he  had 
any  children,  though  he  loved  this  duchess, 
he  seemed  bent  on  dissolving  that  marriage 
to  marry  the  queen  my  mother.  Madame 
de  Valentinois  dreaded  the  woman  he  had 
loved  so  well,  lest  her  wit  and  beauty  should 
diminish  her  own  power,  and  entered  into  an 
alliance  with  the  constable,  who  was  also  op- 
posed to  the  king's  marrying  a  sister  of  the 
Guises.  They  won  over  the  late  king;  and 
though  he  hated  the  Duchess  of  Valentinois 
as  much  as  he  loved  the  queen,  he  joined  with 


The  Princess  of  Cloves.          79 

them  in  preventing  the  king  from  dissolving 
his  marriage.  In  order  to  make  this  impos- 
sible, they  arranged  my  mother's  marriage 
with  the  King  of  Scotland,  whose  first  wife 
had  been  Madame  Magdeleine,  the  king's 
sister,  —  this  they  did  because  it  was  the  first 
thing  that  offered;  though  they  broke  the 
promises  that  had  been  made  to  the  King  of 
England,  who  was  deeply  in  love  with  her. 
In  fact,  this  matter  nearly  caused  a  falling 
out  between  the  two  kings.  Henry  VIII. 
could  not  be  consoled  for  not  marrying  my 
mother;  and  whenever  any  other  French 
princess  was  proposed  to  him,  he  used  to  say 

that  she  would  never  take  the  place  of  the 

§r 
one  they  had   taken  from  him.      It  is  true 

that  my  mother  was  a  perfect  beauty,  and  it 
is  remarkable  that  when  she  was  the  widow 
of  a  duke  of  Longueville,  three  kings  should 
have  wanted  to  marry  her.  It  was  her  mis- 
fortune to  be  married  to  the  least  important 
of  them  all,  and  to  be  sent  to  a  kingdom 
where  she  has  found  nothing  but  unhappi- 


8o  The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

ness.  I  am  told  that  I  am  like  her ;  I  dread 
the  same  sad  fate,  and  whatever  happiness 
seems  to  be  awaiting  me,  I  doubt  if  I  ever 
enjoy  it." 

Mademoiselle  de  Chartres  assured  the 
crown  princess  that  these  gloomy  presenti- 
ments were  so  fantastic  that  they  could  not 
long  disturb  her,  and  that  she  ought  not 
to  doubt  that  her  good  fortune  would  give 
the  lie  to  her  fears. 

Henceforth  no  one  dared  to  think  of 
Mademoiselle  de  Chartres,  through  fear  of 
displeasing  the  king  or  of  not  succeeding 
in  winning  a  young  woman  who  had  aspired 
to  a  prince  of  the  blood.  None  of  these  con- 
siderations moved  Monsieur  de  Cleves.  The 
death  of  his  father,  the  Duke  of  Nevers, 
'vhich  happened  at  that  time,  left  him  free  to 
follow  his  own  inclinations,  and  as  soon  as 
the  period  of  mourning  had  passed,  he 
thought  of  nothing  but  marrying  Mademoi- 
selle de  Chartres.  He  was  glad  to  make  his 
proposal  at  a  time  when  circumstances  had 


The  Princess  of  C I  eves.  gj 

driven  away  all  rivals  and  when  he  felt  al- 
most sure  that  she  would  not  refuse  him. 
What  dimmed  his  joy  was  the  fear  of  not 
being  agreeable  to  her ;  and  he  would  have 
preferred  the  happiness  of  pleasing  her  to 
the  certainty  of  marrying  her  when  she  did 
not  love  him. 

The  Chevalier  de  Guise  had  somewhat 
aroused  his  jealousy;  but  since  this  was  in- 
spired more  by  his  rival's  merits  than  by 
the  conduct  of  Mademoiselle  de  Chartres,  he 
thought  of  nothing  but  ascertaining  whether 
by  good  fortune  she  would  approve  of  his 
designs.  He  met  her  only  at  the  queen's 
rooms  or  in  company,  yet  he  managed  to 
speak  to  her  of  his  intentions  and  hopes  in 
the  most  respectful  way;  he  begged  her  to 
let  him  know  how  she  felt  towards  him,  and 
told  her  that  his  feelings  for  her  were  such 
that  he  should  be  forever  unhappy  if  she 
obeyed  her  mother  only  from  a  sense  of  duty. 

Mademoiselle   de  Chartres,  having  a  very 

noble  heart,  was  really  grateful  to  the  Prince 
VOL.  i.  —  6 


82  The  Princess  of  C I  eves. 

of  Cleves  for  what  he  did.  This  gratitude 
lent  to  her  answer  a  certain  gentleness,  which 
was  quite  sufficient  to  feed  the  hope  of  a 
man  as  much  in  love  as  he  was,  and  he 
counted  on  attaining  at  least  a  part  of  what 
he  desired. 

Mademoiselle  repeated  this  conversation  to 
her  mother,  who  said  that  Monsieur  de  Cleves 
was  of  such  high  birth,  possessed  so  many 
fine  qualities,  and  seemed  so  discreet  for  a 
man  of  his  age,  that  if  she  inclined  to  marry 
him  she  would  herself  gladly  give  her  consent. 
Mademoiselle  de  Chartres  replied  that  she 
had  noticed  the  same  fine  qualities,  and  that 
she  would  rather  marry  him  than  any  one  else, 
but  that  she  had  no  special  love  for  him. 

The  next  day  the  prince  had  his  offer 
formally  made  to  Madame  de  Chartres ;  she 
accepted  it,  being  willing  to  give  her  daugh- 
ter a  husband  she  did  not  love.  The  mar- 
riage settlement  was  drawn  up,  the  king  was 
told  of  it,  and  the  marriage  became  known 
to  every  one. 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.  83 

Monsieur  de  Cleves  was  very  happy, 
although  not  perfectly  satisfied ;  it  gave  him 
much  pain  to  see  that  what  Mademoiselle  de 
Chartres  felt  for  him  was  only  esteem  and 
gratitude,  and  he  could  not  flatter  himself 
that  she  nourished  any  warmer  feeling;  for 
had  she  done  so,  she  would  have  readily 
shown  it  in  their  closer  intimacy.  Within  a 
few  days  he  complained  to  her  of  this. 

"  Is  it  possible,"  he  said,  "  that  I  may 
not  be  happy  in  my  marriage  ?  Yet  as- 
suredly I  am  not  happy.  You  have  a  sort 
of  kindly  feeling  for  me  which  cannot  satisfy 
me;  you  are  not  impatient,  uneasy,  or 
grieved :  you  are  as  indifferent  to  my  love 
as  if  this  were  given  to  your  purse,  and  not 
to  your  charms." 

"  You  do  wrong  to  complain,"  she  re- 
plied. "  I  do  not  know  what  more  you 
can  ask;  it  seems  to  me  that  you  have  no 
right  to  demand  anything  more." 

"It  is  true,"  he  said,  "that  you  have  a 
certain  air  with  which  I  should  be  satisfied 


84  The  Princess  of  Cloves. 

if  there  were  anything  behind  it;  but  in- 
stead of  your  being  restrained  by  a  sense  of 
propriety,  it  is  a  sense  of  propriety  which 
inspires  your  actions.  I  do  not  touch  your 
feelings  or  your  heart;  my  presence  causes 
you  neither  pleasure  nor  pain." 

"  You  cannot  doubt,"  she  made  answer, 
"  that  I  am  glad  to  see  you,  and  I  blush 
so  often  when  I  do  see  you  that  you  may  be 
sure  that  the  sight  of  you  affects  me." 

"  I  am  not  deceived  by  your  blushes,"  he 
urged;  "they  come  from  modesty,  and  not 
from  any  thrill  of  your  heart,  and  I  do  not 
exaggerate  their  importance." 

Mademoiselle  de  Chartres  did  not  know 
what  to  answer ;  these  distinctions  were  out- 
side of  her  experience.  Monsieur  de  Cleves 
saw  only  too  well  how  far  removed  she  was 
from  feeling  for  him  as  he  should  have  liked, 
when  he  saw  that  she  had  no  idea  of  what 
that  feeling  was. 

The  Chevalier  de  Guise  returned  from  a 
journey  a  few  days  before  the  wedding. 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.  85 

He  had  seen  so  many  insurmountable  ob- 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  his  marrying 
Mademoiselle  de  Chartres  that  he  knew  he 
had  no  chance  of  success ;  yet  he  was  evi- 
dently distressed  at  seeing  her  become  the 
wife  of  another.  This  grief  did  not  ex- 
tinguish his  passion,  and  he  remained  quite 
as  much  in  love  as  before.  Mademoiselle 
de  Chartres  had  not  been  ignorant  of  his  de- 
votion. On  his  return  he  let  her  know  that 
she  was  the  cause  of  the  deep  gloom  that 
marked  his  face ;  and  he  had  so  much  merit 
and  charm  that  it  was  almost  impossible  to 
make  him  unhappy  without  regretting  it. 
Hence  she  was  depressed ;  but  this  pity  went 
no  further,  and  she  told  her  mother  how 
much  pain  this  prince's  love  caused  her. 

Madame  de  Chartres  admired  her  daugh- 
ter's frankness,  and  with  good  reason,  for  it 
could  not  be  fuller  or  simpler;  she  regretted, 
however,  that  her  heart  was  not  touched,  es- 
pecially when  she  saw  that  the  prince  had 
not  affected  it  any  more  than  the  others. 


86  The  Princess  of  Cloves. 

Hence  she  took  great  pains  to  attach  her  to 
her  future  husband,  and  to  impress  upon  her 
what  she  owed  him  for  the  interest  he  had 
taken  in  her  before  he  knew  who  she  was, 
and  for  the  proof  he  had  given  of  his  love 
in  choosing  her  at  a  time  when  no  one 
else  ventured  to  think  of  her. 

The  marriage  ceremony  took  place  at  the 
Louvre,  and  in  the  evening  the  king  and 
queen,  with  all  the  court,  supped  at  the 
house  of  Madame  de  Chartres,  who  received 
them  with  great  splendor.  The  Chevalier  de 
Guise  did  not  venture  to  make  himself  con- 
spicuous by  staying  away,  but  his  dejection 
was  evident. 

Monsieur  de  Cleves  did  not  find  that  Made- 
moiselle de  Chartres  had  altered  her  feelings 
when  she  changed  her  name.  His  position  as 
her  husband  gave  him  greater  privileges,  but 
no  different  place  in  her  heart.  Though  he 
had  married  her,  he  did  not  cease  to  be  her 
lover,  because  there  was  always  left  some- 
thing for  him  to  desire;  and  though  she 


The  Princess  of  C I  eves.  87 

lived  on  the  best  of  terms  with  him,  he  was 
not  yet  perfectly  happy.  He  preserved  for 
her  a  violent  and  restless  passion,  which 
marred  his  joy.  Jealousy  had  no  part  in  it, 
for  never  had  a  husband  been  further  from 
feeling  it,  or  a  wife  from  inspiring  it.  Yet 
she  was  exposed  to  all  the  temptations  of  the 
court,  visiting  the  queen  and  the  king's 
sister  every  day.  All  the  young  and  fashion- 
able men  met  her  at  her  own  house  and  at 
that  of  her  brother-in-law,  the  Duke  of 
Nevers,  whose  doors  were  always  open ;  but 
she  always  had  an  air  that  inspired  respect, 
and  seemed  so  remote  from  gallantry  that  the 
Marshal  of  Saint-Andre",  though  bold  and 
protected  by  the  king's  favor,  was  touched 
by  her  beauty  without  venturing  to  show  it 
except  by  delicate  attentions.  There  were 
many  others  who  felt  as  did  the  marshal; 
and  Madame  de  Chartres  added  to  her 
daughter's  natural  modesty  such  a  keen 
sense  of  propriety  that  she  made  her  seem 
like  a  woman  to  be  sighed  for  in  vain. 


88  The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

The  Duchess  of  Lorraine,  while  trying  to 
bring  about  peace,  had  also  tried  to  arrange 
the  marriage  of  her  son,  the  Duke  of  Lorraine, 
and  had  succeeded  ;  he  was  to  marry  Madame 
Claude  of  France,  the  king's  second  daugh- 
ter. The  wedding  had  been  settled  for  the 
month  of  February. 

Meanwhile  the  Duke  of  Nemours  had 
remained  at  Brussels,  completely  taken  up 
with  his  plans  for  England.  He  was  always 
sending  and  receiving  messengers.  His  hopes 
grew  from  day  to  day,  and  at  last  Lignerolles 
told  him  that  it  was  time  for  him  to  appear 
and  finish  in  person  what  had  been  so  well 
begun.  He  received  this  news  with  all  the 
satisfaction  that  an  ambitious  man  can  feel 
at  seeing  himself  raised  to  a  throne  simply 
through  his  reputation.  He  had  gradually 
grown  so  accustomed  to  the  contemplation 
of  this  great  piece  of  good  fortune  that 
whereas  at  first  he  had  regarded  it  as  an  im- 
possibility, all  difficulties  had  vanished,  and 
he  foresaw  no  obstacles. 


The  Princess  of  Cteves.          89 

He  at  once  despatched  to  Paris  orders  for 
a  magnificent  outfit,  that  he  might  make  his 
appearance  in  England  with  a  splendor  pro- 
portionate to  his  designs,  and  also  hastened 
to  court  to  be  present  at  the  wedding  of  the 
Duke  of  Lorraine.  He  arrived  the  day  be- 
fore the  formal  betrothal,  and  that  same 
evening  went  to  report  to  the  king  the  con- 
dition of  affairs  and  to  receive  his  advice  and 
commands  about  his  future  conduct.  Thence 
he  went  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  queens. 
Madame  de  Cleves  was  not  there,  so  that  she 
did  not  see  him,  and  was  not  even  aware  of 
his  arrival.  She  had  heard  every  one  speak 
of  this  prince  as  the  handsomest  and  most 
agreeable  man  at  court,  and  Madame  the 
Dauphiness  had  spoken  of  him  so  often  and 
in  such  terms  that  she  felt  some  curiosity  to 
see  him. 

Madame  de  Cleves  spent  the  day  of  the 
betrothal  at  home  dressing  herself  for  the 
ball  in  the  evening  at  the  Louvre.  When  she 
made  her  appearance,  her  beauty  and  the 


QO  The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

splendor  of  her  dress  aroused  general  admira- 
tion. The  ball  opened,  and  while  she  was 
dancing  with  Monsieur  de  Guise,  there  was  a 
certain  commotion  at  the  door  of  the  ball- 
room, as  if  some  one  were  entering  for  whom 
way  was  being  made.  Madame  de  Cleves 
finished  her  dance,  and  while  she  was  looking 
about  for  another  partner,  the  king  called 
out  to  her  to  take  the  gentleman  who  had 
just  arrived.  She  turned,  and  saw  a  man, 
who  she  thought  must  be  Monsieur  de  Ne- 
mours, stepping  over  some  seats  to  reach  the 
place  where  the  dancing  was  going  on.  No 
one  ever  saw  this  prince  for  the  first  time 
without  amazement ;  and  this  evening  he  was 
more  striking  than  ever  in  the  rich  attire 
which  set  off  his  natural  beauty  to  such 
great  advantage;  and  it  was  also  hard  to 
see  Madame  de  Cleves  for  the  first  time 
without  astonishment. 

Monsieur  de  Nemours  was  so  amazed  by 
her  beauty  that  when  he  drew  near  her  and 
bowed  to  her  he  could  not  conceal  his 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.  91 

wonder  and  delight.  When  they  began 
their  dance,  a  murmur  of  admiration  ran 
through  the  ball-room.  The  king  and  the 
queens  remembered  that  the  pair  had  never 
met,  and  saw  how  strange  it  was  that  they 
should  be  dancing  together  without  being 
acquainted.  They  summoned  them  when 
they  had  finished  the  set,  and  without 
giving  them  a  chance  to  speak  to  any 
one,  asked  if  each  would  not  like  to  know 
who  the  other  was,  and  whether  either  had 
any  idea. 

"  As  for  me,  Madame,"  said  Monsieur 
de  Nemours,  "  I  have  no  doubts;  but  since 
Madame  de  Cleves  has  not  the  same  reasons 
for  guessing  who  I  am  that  I  have  for  recog- 
nizing her,  I  must  beg  your  Majesty  to  be 
good  enough  to  tell  her  my  name." 

"  I  fancy,"  said  the  dauphiness,  "  that  she 
knows  it  as  well  as  you  know  hers." 

"  I  assure  you,  Madame,"  said  Madame  de 
Cleves,  who  seemed  a  little  embarrassed, 
"  that  I  cannot  guess  so  well  as  you  think." 


92  The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

"  You  can  guess  very  well,"  replied  the 
dauphiness,  "  and  you  are  very  kind  to  Mon- 
sieur de  Nemours  in  your  unwillingness  to 
acknowledge  that  you  recognize  him  with- 
out ever  having  seen  him  before." 

The  queen  interrupted  the  conversation, 
that  the  ball  might  go  on,  and  Monsieur 
de  Nemours  danced  with  the  dauphiness- 
This  lady  was  a  perfect  beauty,  and  had 
always  appeared  to  be  one  in  the  eyes  of 
Monsieur  de  Nemours  before  he  went  to 
Flanders;  but  all  that  evening  he  admired 
no  one  but  Madame  de  Cleves. 

The  Chevalier  de  Guise,  who  never  ceased 
worshipping  her,  was  standing  near,  and  this 
incident  caused  him  evident  pain.  He  re- 
garded it  as  a  sure  sign  that  fate  meant  that 
Monsieur  de  Nemours  should  fall  in  love  with 
Madame  de  Cleves ;  and  whether  it  was  that 
he  saw  something  in  her  face,  or  that  jealousy 
sharpened  his  fears,  he  believed  that  she  had 
been  moved  by  the  sight  of  this  prince,  and 
he  could  not  keep  from  telling  her  that  Mon- 


The  Princess  of  C lives.  93 

sieur  de  Nemours  was  very  fortunate  in 
making  her  acquaintance  in  such  a  gallant 
and  unusual  way. 

Madame  de  Cleves  went  home  so  full  of 
what  had  happened  at  the  ball  that  though 
it  was  very  late,  she  went  to  her  mother's 
room  to  tell  her  about  it;  and  she  praised 
Monsieur  de  Nemours  with  a  certain  air  that 
made  Madame  de  Chartres  entertain  the  same 
suspicion  as  the  Chevalier  de  Guise. 

The  next  day  the  wedding  took  place; 
Madame  de  Cleves  there  saw  the  Duke  of 
Nemours,  and  was  even  more  struck  by  his 
admirable  grace  and  dignity  than  before. 

On  succeeding  days  she  met  him  at  the 
drawing-room  of  the  dauphiness,  saw  him 
playing  tennis  with  the  king  and  riding 
at  the  ring,  and  heard  him  talk;  and  she 
always  found  him  so  superior  to  every  one 
else,  and  so  much  outshining  all  in  conversa- 
tion wherever  he  might  be,  by  the  grace  of 
his  person  and  the  charm  of  his  wit,  that  he 
soon  made  a  deep  impression  on  her  heart. 


94  The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

Then,  too,  the  desire  to  please  made  the 
Duke  of  Nemours,  who  was  already  deeply 
interested,  more  charming  than  ever;  and 
since  they  met  often,  and  found  each  other 
more  attractive  than  any  one  else  at  court, 
they  naturally  experienced  great  delight  in 
being  together. 

The  Duchess  of  Valentinois  took  part  in 
all  the  merry-making,  and  the  king  showed 
her  all  the  interest  and  attention  that  he  had 
done  when  first  in  love  with  her.  Madame 
de  Cleves,  who  was  then  of  an  age  at  which 
it  is  usual  to  believe  that  no  woman  can 
ever  be  loved  after  she  is  twenty-five  years 
old,  regarded  with  great  amazement  the 
king's  attachment  to  this  duchess,  who  was 
a  grandmother  and  had  just  married  her 
granddaughter.  She  often  spoke  of  it  to 
Madame  de  Chartres.  "  Is  it  possible," 
she  asked,  "  that  the  king  has  been  in  love 
so  long?  How  could  he  get  interested  in 
a  woman  much  older  than  himself,  and 
who  had  been  his  father's  mistress,  as  well 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.  95 

as  that  of  a  great  many  other  men,  as  I 
have  heard?  " 

"  It  is  true,"  was  the  answer,  "  that  neither 
merit  nor  fidelity  inspired  the  king's  passion, 
or  has  kept  it  alive.  And  this  is  something 
which  is  scarcely  to  be  excused;  for  had 
this  woman  had  youth  and  beauty  as  well  as 
rank,  had  she  loved  no  one  else,  had  she 
loved  the  king  with  untiring  constancy,  for 
himself  alone,  and  not  solely  for  his  wealth 
and  position,  and  had  she  used  her  power  for 
worthy  objects  such  as  the  king  desired,  it 
would  have  been  easy  to  admire  his  great 
devotion  to  her.  If,"  Madame  de  Chartres 
went  on,  "  I  were  not  afraid  that  you  would 
say  of  me  what  is  always  said  of  women  of 
my  age,  that  we  like  to  talk  about  old  times, 
I  would  tell  you  the  beginning  of  the  king's 
love  for  this  duchess ;  and  many  things  that 
happened  at  the  court  of  the  late  king  bear 
much  resemblance  to  what  is  now  going  on." 

"  So  far  from  accusing  you  of  repeating  old 
stories,"  said  Madame  de  Cleves,  "  I  regret 


96  The  Princess  of  Cllves. 

that  you  have  told  me  so  little  about  the 
present,  and  that  you  have  not  taught  me  the 
different  interests  and  intrigues  of  the  court. 
I  am  so  ignorant  of  them  that  a  few  days 
ago  I  thought  the  constable  was  on  the  best 
of  terms  with  the  queen." 

"  You  were  very  far  from  the  truth,"  re- 
plied Madame  de  Chartres.  "  The  queen 
hates  the  constable,  and  if  she  ever  gets 
any  power  he  will  learn  it  very  quickly.  She 
knows  that  he  has  often  told  the  king  that 
of  all  his  children  it  is  only  his  bastards  who 
look  like  him." 

"  I  should  never  have  imagined  this  hatred," 
interrupted  Madame  de  Cleves,  "  after  seeing 
the  zeal  with  which  the  queen  wrote  to  the 
constable  when  he  was  in  prison,  the  joy  she 
manifested  at  his  return,  and  the  familiarity 
of  her  address  as  regards  him." 

"  If  you  judge  from  appearances  here,"  re- 
plied Madame  de  Chartres,  "  you  will  be 
often  mistaken ;  what  appears  is  seldom  the 
truth. 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.  97 

"  But  to  return  to  Madame  de  Valentinois : 
you  know  her  name  is  Diane  de  Poitiers. 
She  is  of  illustrious  family,  being  descended 
from  the  old  dukes  of  Aquitaine ;  her  grand- 
mother was  a  natural  daughter  of  Louis  XL, 
—  in  short,  there  is  no  common  blood  in  her 
veins.  Saint-Vallier,  her  father,  was  impli- 
cated in  the  affair  of  the  Constable  of  Bour- 
bon, of  which  you  have  heard,  was  condemned 
to  be  beheaded,  and  was  led  to  the  scaffold. 
His  daughter,  who  was  remarkably  beauti- 
ful, and  had  already  pleased  the  late  king, 
managed,  I  don't  know  how,  to  save  her 
father's  life.  His  pardon  was  granted  him 
when  he  was  expecting  the  mortal  stroke ; 
but  fear  had  so  possessed  him  that  he  did 
not  recover  consciousness,  but  died  a  few  days 
later.  His  daughter  made  her  appearance 
at  court  as  the  king's  mistress.  His  journey 
to  Italy  and  his  imprisonment  interrupted 
this  passion.  When  he  returned  from  Spain 
and  Madame  Regente  went  to  meet  him  at 
Bayonne,  she  had  with  her  all  her  young 

VOL.    I.  —  7 


98  The  Princess  of  Cloves. 

women,  among  whom  was  Mademoiselle  de 
Pisseleu,  afterwards  Duchess  of  Estampes. 
The  king  fell  in  love  with  her,  though  she  was 
inferior  in  birth,  beauty,  and  intelligence  to 
Madame  de  Valentinois :  the  only  advantage 
she  had  was  that  she  was  younger.  I  have 
often  heard  her  say  that  she  was  born  on 
the  day  that  Diane  de  Potiers  was  married ; 
but  that  remark  was  more  malicious  than 
truthful,  for  I  am  much  mistaken  if  the 
Duchess  of  Valentinois  did  not  marry  Mon- 
sieur de  Breze,  grand  seneschal  of  Normandy, 
at  the  same  time  that  the  king  fell  in  love 
with  Madame  d'Estampes.  Never  was  there 
fiercer  hatred  than  existed  between  those 
two  women.  The  Duchess  of  Valentinois 
could  not  forgive  Madame  d'Estampes  for 
depriving  her  of  the  title  of  the  king's 
mistress.  Madame  d'Estampes  was  madly 
jealous  of  Madame  de  Valentinois  because 
the  king  maintained  his  relations  with  her. 
This  king  was  never  rigorously  faithful  to 
his  mistresses;  there  was  always  one  who 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.          99 

had  the  title  and  the  honors,  but  the  ladies 
of  what  was  called  the  little  band  shared  his 
attentions.  The  death  of  his  oldest  son,  it 
was  supposed  by  poison,  at  Tournon,  was  a 
great  blow  to  him.  He  had  much  less  love 
for  his  second  son,  the  present  king,  who  was 
in  every  way  far  less  to  his  taste,  and  whom  he 
even  regarded  as  lacking  courage  and  spirit. 
He  was  lamenting  this  one  day  to  Madame 
de  Valentinois,  whereupon  she  said  she  would 
like  to  make  him  fall  in  love  with  her,  that  he 
might  become  livelier  and  more  agreeable. 
She  succeeded,  as  you  know.  This  love 
has  lasted  more  than  twenty  years,  without 
being  dimmed  by  time  or  circumstances. 

"At  first  the  late  king  oLjected  to  it, — 
whether  because  he  was  still  enough  in  love 
with  Madame  de  Valentinois  to  feel  jealous, 
or  because  he  was  influenced  by  Madame 
d'Estampes,  who  was  in  despair  when  the  dau- 
phin became  attached  to  her  enemy,  is  uncer- 
tain ;  however  that  may  be,  he  viewed  this 
passion  with  an  anger  and  a  disapproval  that 


ioo         The  Princess  of  Cloves. 

were  apparent  every  day.  His  son  feared 
neither  his  wrath  nor  his  hate ;  and  since  noth- 
ing could  induce  him  to  abate  or  to  conceal 
his  attachment,  the  king  was  forced  to  endure 
it  as  best  he  could.  His  son's  opposition  to 
his  wishes  estranged  him  still  more,  and  at- 
tached him  more  closely  to  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  his  third  son.  This  prince  was 
handsome,  energetic,  ambitious,  of  a  some- 
what tempestuous  nature,  which  needed  to 
be  controlled,  but  who  in  time  would  be- 
come a  really  fine  man. 

"  The  elder  son's  rank  as  dauphin  and  the 
father's  preference  for  the  Duke  of  Orleans 
inspired  a  rivalry  between  them  which 
amounted  to  hatred.  This  rivalry  had  be- 
gun in  their  childhood,  and  lasted  until  the 
death  of  the  latter.  When  the  emperor 
entered  French  territory  he  gave  his  whole 
preference  to  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  This  so 
pained  the  dauphin  that  when  the  emperor 
was  at  Chantilly  he  tried  to  compel  the  con- 
stable to  arrest  him,  without  waiting  for  the 


The  Princess  of  C lives.         101 

king's  orders;  but  the  constable  refused. 
Afterward  the  king  blamed  him  for  not 
following  his  son's  advice;  and  this  had  a 
good  deal  to  do  with  his  leaving  the  court. 

"  The  division  between  the  two  brothers  in- 
duced the  Duchess  of  Estampes  to  rely  on 
the  Duke  of  Orleans  for  protection  against 
the  influence  which  Madame  de  Valentinois 
had  over  the  king.  In  this  she  succeeded ; 
the  duke,  without  falling  in  love  with  her, 
was  as  warm  in  defence  of  her  interests  as 
was  the  dauphin  in  defence  of  those  of 
Madame  de  Valentinois.  Hence  there  were 
two  cabals  in  the  court  such  as  you  can 
imagine;  but  the  intrigues  were  not  limited 
to  two  women's  quarrels. 

"  The  emperor,  who  had  maintained  his 
friendship  for  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  had  fre- 
quently offered  him  the  duchy  of  Milan. 
In  the  subsequent  negotiations  about  peace, 
he  raised  hopes  in  the  breast  of  the  duke 
that  he  would  give  him  the  seventeen  prov- 
inces and  his  daughter's  hand.  The  dau- 


IO2         The  Princess  of  Cteves. 

phin,  however,  desired  neither  peace  nor 
this  marriage.  He  made  use  of  the  con- 
stable, whom  he  has  always  loved,  to  con- 
vince the  king  how  important  »t  was  not  to 
give  to  his  successor  a  brother  so  powerful 
as  would  be  the  Duke  of  Orleans  in  alliance 
with  the  emperor  and  governing  the  seven- 
teen provinces.  The  constable  agreed  the 
more  heartily  with  the  dauphin's  views 
because  he  also  opposed  those  of  Madame 
d'Estampes,  who  was  his  avowed  enemy,  and 
ardently  desired  that  the  power  of  the  Duke 
of  Orleans  should  be  increased. 

"  At  that  time  the  dauphin  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  king's  army  in  Champagne,  and 
had  reduced  that  of  the  emperor  to  such 
extremities  that  it  would  have  utterly  per- 
ished had  not  the  Duchess  of  Estampes, 
fearing  that  too  great  success  would  pre- 
vent our  granting  peace  and  consenting 
to  the  marriage,  secretly  sent  word  to  the 
enemy  to  surprise  Epernay  and  Chateau- 
Thierry,  which  were  full  of  supplies.  This 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.         103 

they  did,  and  thereby  saved  their  whole 
army. 

"  This  duchess  did  not  long  profit  by 
her  treason.  Soon  afterward  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  died  at  Farmoutier  of  some  conta- 
gious disease.  He  loved  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  women  of  the  court,  and  was  be- 
loved by  her.  I  shall  not  tell  you  who  it 
was,  because  her  life  since  that  time  has  been 
most  decorous ;  and  she  has  tried  so  hard  to 
have  her  affection  for  the  prince  forgotten 
that  she  deserves  to  have  her  reputation  left 
untarnished.  It  so  happened  that  she  heard 
of  her  husband's  death  on  the  same  day  that 
she  heard  of  that  of  Monsieur  d'Orleans; 
consequently  she  was  able  to  conceal  her 
real  grief  without  an  effort. 

"  The  king  did  not  long  survive  his 
son's  decease,  —  he  died  two  years  later.  He 
urged  the  dauphin  to  make  use  of  the  ser- 
vices of  the  Cardinal  of  Tournon  and  of  the 
Amiral  d'Annebauld,  without  saying  a  word 
about  the  constable,  who  at  that  time  was 


IO4         The  Princess  of  C I  eves. 

banished  to  Chantilly.  Nevertheless,  the 
first  thing  the  present  king  did  after  his 
father's  death  was  to  call  the  constable 
back  and  intrust  him  with  the  management 
of  affairs. 

"  Madame  d'Estampes  was  sent  away,  and 
became  the  victim  of  all  the  ill-treatment  she 
might  have  expected  from  an  all-powerful 
enemy.  The  Duchess  of  Valentinois  took 
full  vengeance  on  this  duchess  and  on  all  who 
had  displeased  her.  Her  power  over  the  king 
seemed  the  greater  because  it  had  not  ap- 
peared while  he  was  dauphin.  During  the 
twelve  years  of  his  reign  she  has  been  in 
everything  absolute  mistress.  She  disposes 
of  places  and  controls  affairs  of  every  sort ; 
she  secured  the  dismissal  of  the  Cardinal  of 
Tournon,  of  the  Chancelier  Olivier,  and  of 
Villeroy.  Those  who  have  endeavored  to 
open  the  king's  eyes  to  her  conduct  have 
been  ruined  for  their  pains.  The  Count  of 
Taix,  commander-in-chief  of  the  artillery, 
who  did  not  like  her,  could  not  keep  from 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.         105 

talking  about  her  love  affairs,  and  especially 
about  one  with  the  Count  of  Brissac,  of 
whom  the  king  was  already  very  jealous. 
Yet  she  managed  so  well  that  the  Count 
of  Taix  was  disgraced  and  deprived  of  his 
position ;  and  impossible  as  it  may  sound,  he 
was  succeeded  by  the  Count  of  Brissac,  whom 
she  afterward  made  a  marshal  of  France. 
Still,  the  king's  jealousy  became  so  violent 
that  he  could  not  endure  having  this  marshal 
remain  at  court;  but  though  usually  jeal- 
ousy is  a  hot  and  violent  passion,  it  is  modi- 
fied and  tempered  in  him  by  his  extreme  re- 
spect for  his  mistress,  so  that  the  only  means 
he  ventured  to  use  to  rid  himself  of  his  rival 
was  by  intrusting  to  him  the  government  of 
Piedmont.  There  he  has  spent  several  years ; 
last  winter,  however,  he  returned,  under  the 
pretext  of  asking  for  men  and  supplies  for 
the  army  under  his  command.  Possibly 
the  desire  of  seeing  Madame  de  Valentinois 
and  dread  of  being  forgotten  had  something 
to  do  with  this  journey.  The  king  received 


io(5         The  Princess  of  Cteves, 

him  very  coldly.  The  Guises,  who  do  not 
like  him,  did  not  dare  betray  their  feelings, 
on  account  of  Madame  de  Valentinois,  so 
they  made  use  of  the  Vidame,  his  open 
enemy,  to  prevent  his  getting  any  of  the 
things  he  wanted.  It  was  not  hard  to  injure 
him.  The  king  hated  him,  and  was  made 
uneasy  by  his  presence ;  consequently  he 
was  obliged  to  go  back  without  getting 
any  advantage  from  his  journey,  —  unless, 
possibly,  he  had  rekindled  in  the  heart  of 
Madame  de  Valentinois  feelings  which  ab- 
sence had  nearly  extinguished.  The  king 
has  had  many  other  grounds  for  jealousy, 
but  either  he  has  not  known  them,  or  he 
has  not  dared  to  complain. 

"  I  am  not  sure,  my  dear,"  added  Madame 
de  Chartres,  "  that  you  may  not  think  I  have 
told  you  more  than  you  cared  to  hear." 

"  Not  at  all,"  answered  Madame  de  Cleves ; 
"  and  if  I  were  not  afraid  of  tiring  you,  I 
should  ask  you  many  more  questions." 

Monsieur  de  Nemours'  love  for  Madame  de 


The  Princess  of  Cloves.         107 

Cleves  was  at  first  so  violent  that  he  lost  all 
interest  in  those  he  had  formerly  loved,  and 
with  whom  he  had  kept  up  relations  during 
his  absence.  He  not  merely  did  not  seek 
any  excuses  for  deserting  them,  he  would  not 
even  listen  to  their  complaints  or  reply  to 
their  reproaches.  The  dauphiness,  for  whom 
he  had  nourished  very  warm  feelings,  was 
soon  forgotten  by  the  side  of  Madame  de 
Cleves.  His  impatience  for  his  journey  to 
England  began  to  abate,  and  he  ceased  to 
hasten  his  preparations  for  departure.  He 
often  visited  the  crown  princess,  because 
Madame  de  Cleves  was  frequently  in  her 
apartments,  and  he  was  not  unwilling  to  give 
some  justification  to  the  widespread  suspi- 
cions about  his  feelings  for  the  dauphiness. 
Madame  de  Cleves  seemed  to  him  so  rare 
a  prize  that  he  decided  to  conceal  all  signs 
of  his  love  rather  than  let  it  be  generally 
known.  He  never  spoke  of  it  even  to  his 
intimate  friend  the  Vidame  de  Chartres,  to 
whom  he  usually  confided  everything.  He 


jo8         The  Princess  of  C I  eves. 

was  so  cautious  and  discreet  that  no  one 
suspected  his  love  for  Madame  de  Cleves 
except  the  Chevalier  de  Guise;  and  the 
lady  herself  would  scarcely  have  perceived 
it  had  not  her  own  interest  in  him  made 
her  watch  him  very  closely,  so  that  she 
became  sure  of  it. 

Madame  de  Cleves  did  not  find  herself  so 
disposed  to  tell  her  mother  what  she  thought 
of  this  prince's  feelings  as  had  been  the  case 
with  her  other  lovers ;  and  without  definitely 
deciding  on  reserve,  she  yet  never  spoke  of 
the  subject.  But  Madame  de  Chartres  soon 
perceived  this,  as  well  as  her  daughter's  in- 
terest in  him.  This  knowledge  gave  her 
distinct  pain,  for  she  well  understood  how 
dangerous  it  was  for  Madame  de  Cleves  to 
be  loved  by  a  man  like  Monsieur  de 
Nemours,  especially  when  she  was  already 
disposed  to  admire  him.  An  incident  that 
happened  a  few  days  later  confirmed  her 
suspicions  of  this  liking. 

The    Marshal    of    Saint-Andre,    who    was 


The  Princess  of  C I  eves.         109 

always  on  the  look-out  for  opportunities  to 
display  his  magnificence,  made  a  pretext  of. 
desiring  to  show  his  house,  which  had  just 
been  finished,  and  invited  the  king  to  do 
him  the  honor  of  supping  there  with  the 
queens.  The  marshal  was  also  glad  to  be 
able  to  show  to  Madame  de  Cleves  his  lavish 
splendor. 

A  few  days  before  the  one  of  the  supper, 
the  dauphin,  whose  health  was  delicate,  had 
been  ailing  and  had  seen  no  one.  His  wife, 
the  crown  princess,  had  spent  the  whole 
day  with  him,  and  toward  evening,  as  he 
felt  better,  he  received  all  the  persons  of 
quality  who  were  in  his  ante-chamber.  The 
crown  princess  went  to  her  own  apartment, 
where  she  found  Madame  de  Cleves  and  a 
few  other  ladies  with  whom  she  was  most 
intimate. 

Since  it  was  already  late,  and  the  crown 
princess  was  not  dressed,  she  did  not  go  to 
the  queen,  but  sent  word  she  could  not 
come ;  she  then  had  her  jewels  brought,  to 


no         The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

decide  what  she  should  wear  at  the  Marshal 
of  Saint- Andre's  ball,  and  to  give  some,  ac- 
cording to  a  promise  she  had  made,  to 
Madame  de  Cleves.  While  they  were  thus 
occupied,  the  Prince  of  Conde,  whose  rank 
gave  him  free  admission  everywhere,  en- 
tered. The  crown  princess  said  to  him  that 
he  doubtless  came  from  her  husband,  and 
asked  what  was  going  on  in  his  apartments. 

"  They  are  having  a  discussion,  Madame, 
with  Monsieur  de  Nemours,"  he  answered. 
"  He  defends  the  side  he  has  taken  so  eagerly 
that  he  must  have  a  personal  interest  in  it. 
I  fancy  he  has  a  mistress  who  makes  him 
uneasy  when  she  goes  to  a  ball,  for  he  main- 
tains that  it  makes  a  lover  unhappy  to  see 
the  woman  he  loves  at  such  a  place." 

"What!  "  said  the  dauphiness,  "Monsieur 
de  Nemours  does  not  want  his  mistress  to 
go  to  a  ball?  I  thought  husbands  might 
object,  but  I  never  supposed  that  lovers 
could  have  such  a  feeling." 

"  Monsieur  de  Nemours,"  replied  the  Prince 


The  Princess  of  Cloves.         1 1 1 

of  Conde,  "  declares  that  a  ball  is  most  distress- 
ing to  lovers,  whether  they  are  loved  or  not. 
He  says  if  their  love  is  returned,  they  have 
the  pain  of  being  loved  less  for  several  days ; 
that  there  is  not  a  woman  in  the  world  who 
is  not  prevented  from  thinking  of  her  lover 
by  the  demands  of  her  toilet,  which  entirely 
engrosses  her  attention ;  that  women  dress 
for  every  one  as  well  as  for  those  they  love ; 
that  when  they  are  at  the  ball  they  are  anx- 
ious to  please  all  who  look  at  them ;  that 
when  they  are  proud  of  their  beauty,  they 
feel  a  pleasure  in  which  the  lover  plays  but 
a  small  part.  He  says,  too,  that  one  who 
sighs  in  vain  suffers  even  more  when  he  sees 
his  mistress  at  an  entertainment;  that  the 
more  she  is  admired  by  the  public,  the  more 
one  suffers  at  not  being  loved,  through  fear 
lest  her  beauty  should  kindle  some  love  hap- 
pier than  his  own ;  finally,  that  there  is  no 
pain  so  keen  as  seeing  one's  mistress  at  a 
ball,  except  knowing  that  she  is  there  while 
absent  one's  self." 


H2         The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

Madame  de  Cleves,  though  pretending  not 
to  hear  what  the  Prince  of  Conde  was  say- 
ing, listened  attentively.  She  readily  under- 
stood her  share  in  the  opinion  expressed  by 
Monsieur  de  Nemours,  especially  when  he 
spoke  of  his  grief  at  not  being  at  the  ball 
with  his  mistress,  because  he  was  not  to  be 
at  that  given  by  the  Marshal  of  Saint-Andre, 
being  ordered  by  the  king  to  go  to  meet 
the  Duke  of  Ferrara. 

The  crown  princess  laughed  with  the 
Prince  of  Conde,  and  expressed  her  disap- 
proval of  the  views  of  Monsieur  de  Nemours. 
"  There  is  only  one  condition,  Madame," 
said  the  prince,  "  on  which  Monsieur  de 
Nemours  is  willing  that  his  mistress  should 
go  to  a  ball,  and  that  is  that  he  himself 
should  give  her  permission.  He  said  that 
last  year  when  he  gave  a  ball  to  your  Ma- 
jesty, he  thought  that  his  mistress  did  him 
a  great  favor  in  coming  to  it,  though  she 
seemed  to  be  there  only  as  one  of  your  suite ; 
that  it  is  always  a  kindness  to  a  lover  to  take 


The  Princess  of  Cloves.         113 

part  in  any  entertainment  that  he  gives ;  and 
that  it  is  also  agreeable  to  a  lover  to  have 
his  mistress  see  him  the  host  of  the  whole 
court  and  doing  the  honors  fittingly." 

"  Monsieur  de  Nemours  did  well,"  said  the 
dauphiness,  with  a  smile,  "  to  let  his  mistress 
go  to  that  ball ;  for  so  many  women  claimed 
that  position  that  if  they  had  not  come,  there 
would  have  been  scarcely  any  one  there." 

As  soon  as  the  Prince  of  Cond6  had  begun 
to  speak  of  what  Monsieur  de  Nemours 
thought  of  the  ball,  Madame  de  Cleves 
was  very  anxious  not  to  go  to  that  of  the 
Marshal  of  Saint-Andre.  She  readily  agreed 
that  it  was  not  fitting  for  a  woman  to  go  to 
the  house  of  a  man  who  was  in  love  with  her, 
and  she  was  glad  to  have  so  good  a  reason 
for  doing  a  kindness  to  Monsieur  de 
Nemours.  Nevertheless,  she  took  away  the 
jewels  which  the  crown  princess  had  given 
her;  that  evening,  however,  when  she  showed 
them  to  her  mother,  she  told  her  that  she  did 
not  mean  to  wear  them,  that  the  Marshal  of 

VOL.    I.  —  S 


ii4         The  Princess  of  C I  eves. 

Saint- Andr£  had  made  his  love  for  her  so 
manifest  that  she  felt  sure  he  meant  to  have 
it  thought  that  she  was  to  have  some  part  in 
the  entertainment  he  was  to  give  to  the  king, 
and  that  under  the  pretext  of  doing  honor 
to  the  king  he  would  pay  her  attentions 
which  might  perhaps  prove  embarrassing. 

Madame  de  Chartres  argued  for  some  time 
against  her  daughter's  decision,  which  she 
thought  singular,  but  at  last  yielded,  and 
told  her  she  must  pretend  to  be  ill,  in  order 
to  have  a  good  excuse  for  not  going,  because 
her  real  reasons  would  not  be  approved  and 
should  not  be  suspected.  Madame  de  Cleves 
gladly  consented  to  stay  at  home  for  a  few 
days,  in  order  not  to  meet  Monsieur  de 
Nemours,  who  left  without  having  the  pleas- 
ure of  knowing  that  she  was  not  going  to 
the  ball. 

The  duke  returned  the  day  after  the  ball, 
and  heard  that  she  had  not  been  there ;  but 
inasmuch  as  he  did  not  know  that  his  talk 
with  the  dauphin  had  been  repeated  to  her. 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.        115 

he  was  far  from  thinking  that  he  was  for- 
tunate enough  to  be  the  cause  of  her 
absence. 

The  next  day,  when  Monsieur  de  Nemours 
was  calling  on  the  queen  and  talking  with 
the  dauphiness,  Madame  de  Chartres  and 
Madame  de  Cleves  happened  to  come  in 
and  approached  this  princess.  Madame  de 
Cleves  was  not  in  full  dress,  as  if  she  were 
not  very  well,  though  her  countenance  be- 
lied her  attire. 

"  You  look  so  well,"  said  the  crown  prin- 
cess, "  that  I  can  scarcely  believe  that  you 
have  been  ill.  I  fancy  that  the  Prince  of 
Conde,  when  he  told  you  what  Monsieur  de 
Nemours  thought  about  the  ball,  convinced 
you  that  you  would  do  a  kindness  to  the 
Marshal  of  Saint-Andre  by  going  to  his  ball, 
and  that  that  was  the  reason  you  stayed 
away." 

Madame  de  Cleves  blushed  at  the  dau- 
phiness's  accurate  guess  which  she  thus  ex- 
pressed before  Monsieur  de  Nemours. 


n6         The  Princess  of  Clevcs. 

Madame  de  Chartres  saw  at  once  why  her 
daughter  did  not  go  to  the  ball,  and  in  order 
to  throw  Monsieur  de  Nemours  off  the  track, 
she  at  once  addressed  the  dauphiness  with  an 
air  of  sincerity.  "I  assure  you,  Madame," 
she  said,  "that  your  Majesty  pays  an  honor 
to  my  daughter  which  she  does  not  deserve. 
She  was  really  ill ;  but  I  am  sure  that  if  I 
had  not  forbidden  it,  she  would  have  accom- 
panied you,  unfit  as  she  was,  to  have  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  the  wonderful  entertain- 
ment last  evening." 

The  dauphiness  believed  what  Madame 
de  Chartres  said,  and  Monsieur  de  Nemours 
was  vexed  to  see  how  probable  her  story 
was ;  nevertheless,  the  confusion  of  Madame 
de  Cleves  made  him  suspect  that  the 
dauphiness's  conjecture  was  not  without 
some  foundation  in  fact.  At  first  Madame 
de  Cleves  had  been  annoyed  because  Mon- 
sieur de  Nemours  had  reason  to  suppose 
that  it  was  he  who  had  kept  her  from  go- 
ing to  the  b^ll,  and  then  she  felt  regret 


The  Princess  of  C I  eves.         1 1 7 

that  her  mother  had  entirely  removed  the 
grounds  for  this  supposition. 

Although  the  attempt  to  make  peace  at 
Cercamp  had  failed,  negotiations  still  con- 
tinued, and  matters  had  assumed  such  a 
shape  that  toward  the  end  of  February  a 
meeting  was  held  at  Cateau-Cambresis.  The 
same  commissioners  had  assembled  there, 
and  the  departure  of  the  Marshal  of  Saint- 
Andr6  freed  Monsieur  de  Nemours  from  a 
rival  who  was  more  to  be  dreaded  on  ac- 
count of  his  close  observation  of  all  those 
who  approached  Madame  de  Cleves  than 
from  any  real  success  of  his  own. 

Madame  de  Chartres  did  not  wish  to  let 
her  daughter  see  that  she  knew  her  feeling 
for  this  prince,  lest  she  should  make  her 
suspicious  of  the  advice  she  wanted  to  give 
her.  One  day  she  began  to  talk  about  him. 
She  spoke  of  him  in  warm  terms,  but  craftily 
praised  his  discretion  in  being  unable  to  fall 
really  in  love  and  in  seeking  only  pleasure, 
not  a  serious  attachment,  in  his  relations  with 


n8          The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

women.  "  To  be  sure,"  she  went  on,  "  he  has 
been  suspected  of  a  great  passion  for  the 
dauphiness;  I  notice  that  he  visits  her  very 
often,  and  I  advise  you  to  avoid  talking  with 
him  as  much  as  possible,  especially  in  priv- 
ate, because  you  are  on  such  terms  with  the 
crown  princess  that  people  would  say  that 
you  were  their  confidant,  and  you  know  how 
disagreeable  that  would  be.  I  think  that  if 
the  report  continues,  you  would  do  well  to 
see  less  of  the  crown  princess,  that  you  may 
not  be  connected  with  love-affairs  of  that 
sort." 

Madame  de  Cleves  had  never  heard  Mon- 
sieur de  Nemours  and  the  dauphiness  talked 
about,  and  was  much  surprised  by  what  her 
mother  said.  She  was  so  sure  that  she  had 
misunderstood  the  prince's  feelings  for  her 
that  she  changed  color.  Madame  de  Char- 
tres  noticed  this,  but  company  coming  in  at 
that  moment,  Madame  de  Cleves  went  home 
and  locked  herself  up  in  her  room. 

It  is  impossible  to  express  her  grief  when 


The  Princess  of  Cloves.         119 

her  mother's  words  opened  her  eyes  to  the 
interest  she  took  in  Monsieur  de  Nemours; 
she  had  never  dared  to  acknowledge  it  to 
herself.  Then  she  saw  that  her  feelings  for 
him  were  what  Monsieur  de  Cleves  had  so 
often  supplicated,  and  she  felt  the  mortifica- 
tion of  having  them  for  another  than  a  hus- 
band who  so  well  deserved  them.  She  felt 
hurt  and  embarrassed,  fearing  that  Mon- 
sieur de  Nemours  might  have  used  her  as 
a  pretext  for  seeing  the  dauphiness;  and 
this  thought  decided  her  to  tell  Madame 
de  Chartres  what  she  had  hitherto  kept 
secret. 

The  next  morning  she  went  to  her  mother 
to  carry  out  this  decision;  but  Madame  de 
Chartres  was  a  little  feverish,  and  did  not 
care  to  talk  with  her.  The  illness  seemed 
so  slight,  however,  that  Madame  de  Cleves 
called  on  the  dauphiness  after  dinner,  and 
found  her  in  her  room  with  two  or  three 
ladies  with  whom  she  was  on  intimate 
terms. 


I2O         The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

"  We  were  talking  about  Monsieur  de 
Nemours,"  said  the  queen  when  she  saw 
her,  "  and  were  surprised  to  see  how 
much  he  is  changed  since  his  return  from 
Brussels;  before  he  went,  he  had  an  in- 
finite number  of  mistresses,  and  it  was  a 
positive  disadvantage  to  him,  because  he 
used  to  be  kind  both  to  those  who  were 
worthy  and  to  those  who  were  not.  Since 
his  return,  however,  he  will  have  nothing 
to  do  with  any  of  them.  There  has  never 
been  such  a  change.  His  spirits,  moreover, 
seem  to  be  affected,  as  he  is  much  less 
cheerful  than  usual." 

Madame  de  Cleves  made  no  answer;  she 
thought  with  a  sense  of  shame  that  she  would 
have  taken  all  that  they  said  about  the 
change  in  him  for  a  proof  of  his  passion  if 
she  had  not  been  undeceived.  She  was 
somewhat  vexed  with  the  dauphiness  for 
trying  to  explain  and  for  expressing  surprise 
at  something  of  which  she  must  know  the 
real  reason  better  than  any  one  else.  She 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.         1 2 1 

could  not  keep  from  showing  her  annoyance, 
and  when  the  other  ladies  withdrew,  she  went 
up  to  the  crown  princess  and  said  in  a  low 
voice,  — 

"Is  it  for  my  benefit  that  you  have  just 
spoken,  and  do  you  want  to  hide  from  me 
that  you  are  the  cause  of  the  altered  con- 
duct of  Monsieur  de  Nemours?" 

"  You  are  unjust,"  said  the  crown  prin- 
cess ;  "  you  know  that  I  never  keep  any- 
thing from  you.  It  is  true  that  before  he 
went  to  Brussels,  Monsieur  de  Nemours 
meant  to  have  me  understand  that  he  did 
not  hate  me ;  but  since  his  return  he  seems 
to  have  forgotten  all  about  it,  and  I  confess 
that  I  am  a  little  curious  about  the  reason 
of  this  change.  I  shall  probably  find  it  out," 
she  went  on,  "as  the  Vidame  de  Chartres, 
his  intimate  friend,  is  in  love  with  a  young 
woman  over  whom  I  have  some  power,  and 
I  shall  know  from  her  what  has  made  this 
change." 

The   dauphiness    spoke   with    an    air   that 


122         The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

carried  conviction  to  Madame  de  Cleves, 
who  found  herself  calmer  and  happier  than 
she  had  been  before.  When  she  went  back 
to  her  mother,  she  found  her  much  worse 
than  when  she  had  left  her.  She  was  more 
feverish,  and  for  some  days  it  seemed  as  if 
she  were  going  to  be  really  ill.  Madame 
de  Cleves  was  in  great  distress,  and  did 
not  leave  her  mother's  room.  Monsieur  de 
Cleves  spent  nearly  all  his  time  there  too, 
both  to  comfort  his  wife  and  to  have  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  her:  his  love  had  not 
lessened. 

Monsieur  de  Nemours,  who  had  always 
been  one  of  his  friends,  had  not  neglected 
him  since  his  return  from  Brussels.  During 
the  illness  of  Madame  de  Chartres  he  found 
it  possible  to  see  Madame  de  Cleves  very 
often,  under  pretence  of  calling  on  her  hus- 
band or  of  stopping  to  take  him  to  walk. 
He  even  sought  him  at  hours  when  he  knew 
he  was  not  in ;  then  he  would  say  that  he 
would  wait  for  him,  and  used  to  stay  in  the 


The  Princess  of  C I  eves.         123 

ante-chamber  of  Madame  de  Chartres,  where 
were  assembled  many  persons  of  quality. 
Madame  de  Cleves  would  often  look  in, 
and  although  she  was  in  great  anxiety,  she 
seemed  no  less  beautiful  to  Monsieur  de 
Nemours.  He  showed  her  how  much  he 
sympathized  with  her  distress,  and  soon 
convinced  her  that  it  was  not  with  the  dau- 
phiness  that  he  was  in  love. 

She  could  not  keep  from  being  embar- 
rassed, and  yet  delighted  to  see  him;  but 
when  he  was  out  of  her  sight  and  she  re- 
membered that  this  pleasure  was  the  begin- 
ning of  an  unhappy  passion,  she  felt  she 
almost  hated  him,  so  much  did  the  idea 
of  guilty  love  pain  her. 

Madame  de  Chartres  rapidly  grew  worse, 
and  soon  her  life  was  despaired  of;  she 
heard  the  doctors'  opinion  of  her  danger 
with  a  courage  proportionate  to  her  virtue 
and  piety.  After  they  had  left  her,  she  dis- 
missed all  who  were  present,  and  sent  for 
Madame  de  Cleves. 


124         The  Princess  of  C I  eves. 

"  We  have  to  part,  my  daughter,"  she  said, 
holding  out  her  hand;  "and  the  peril  in 
which  you  are  and  the  need  you  have  of  me, 
double  my  pain  in  leaving  you.  You  have 
an  affection  for  Monsieur  de  Nemours ;  I  do 
not  ask  you  to  confess  it,  as  I  am  no  longer 
able  to  make  use  of  your  sincerity  in  order 
to  guide  you.  It  is  long  since  I  perceived 
this  affection,  but  I  have  been  averse  to 
speaking  to  you  about  it,  lest  you  should 
become  aware  of  it  yourself.  Now  you 
know  it  only  too  well.  You  are  on  the  edge 
of  a  precipice :  a  great  effort,  a  violent  strug- 
gle, alone  can  save  you.  Think  of  what 
you  owe  your  husband,  think  of  what  you 
owe  yourself,  and  remember  that  you  are  in 
danger  of  losing  that  reputation  which  you 
have  acquired  and  which  I  have  so  ardently 
desired  for  you.  Take  strength  and  courage, 
my  daughter:  withdraw  from  the  court; 
compel  your  husband  to  take  you  away.  Do 
not  be  afraid  of  making  a  difficult  decision. 
Terrible  as  it  may  appear  at  first,  it  will  in 


The  Princess  of  C I  eves.         125 

the  end  be  pleasanter  than  the  consequences 
of  a  love-affair.  If  any  other  reasons  than 
virtue  and  duty  can  persuade  you  to  what 
I  wish,  let  me  say  that  if  anything  is  capable 
of  destroying  the  happiness  I  hope  for  in 
another  world,  it  would  be  seeing  you  fall 
like  so  many  women ;  but  if  this  misfortune 
must  come  to  you,  I  welcome  death  that  I 
may  not  see  it." 

Madame  de  Cleves's  tears  fell  on  her 
mother's  hand,  which  she  held  clasped  in 
her  own,  and  Madame  de  Chartres  saw  that 
she  was  moved.  "  Good-by,  my  daughter," 
she  said ;  "  let  us  put  an  end  to  a  conversa- 
tion which  moves  us  both  too  deeply,  and 
remember,  if  you  can,  all  I  have  just  said 
to  you." 

With  these  words  she  turned  away  and 
bade  her  daughter  call  her  women,  without 
hearing  or  saying  more.  Madame  de  Cleves 
left  her  mother's  room  in  a  state  that  may  be 
imagined,  and  Madame  de  Chartres  thought 


126         The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

of  nothing  but  preparing  herself  for  death. 
She  lingered  two  days  more,  but  refused 
again  to  see  her  daughter,  —  the  only  per- 
son she  loved. 

Madame  de  Cleves  was  in  sore  distress ; 
her  husband  never  left  her  side,  and  as  soon 
as  Madame  de  Chartres  had  died,  he  took 
her  into  the  country,  to  get  her  away  from 
a  place  which  continually  renewed  her  grief, 
which  was  intense.  Although  her  love  and 
gratitude  to  her  mother  counted  for  a  great 
deal,  the  need  she  felt  of  her  support  against 
Monsieur  de  Nemours  made  the  blow  even 
more  painful.  She  lamented  being  left  to 
herself  when  she  had  her  emotions  so  little 
under  control,  and  when  she  so  needed  some 
one  to  pity  her  and  give  her  strength.  Her 
husband's  kindness  made  her  wish  more 
than  ever  to  be  always  true  to  him.  She 
showed  him  more  affection  and  kindli- 
ness than  she  had  ever  done  before,  and 
she  wanted  him  always  by  her  side;  for  it 


The  Princess  of  C I  eves.        127 

seemed  to  her  that  her  attachment  to  him 
would  prove  a  defence  against  Monsieur  de 
Nemours. 

This  prince  went  to  visit  Monsieur  de 
Cleves  in  the  country,  and  did  his  best  to 
see  Madame  de  Cleves;  but  she  declined 
to  receive  him,  knowing  that  she  could 
not  fail  to  find  him  charming.  Moreover, 
she  resolutely  determined  to  avoid  every 
occasion  of  meeting  him,  so  far  as  she  was 
able. 

Monsieur  de  Cleves  repaired  to  Paris  to 
pay  his  respects  at  court,  promising  his  wife 
to  return  the  next  day;  but  he  did  not 
return  till  the  day  after. 

"  I  expected  you  all  day  yesterday," 
Madame  de  Cleves  said  to  him  when  he  ar- 
rived, "  and  I  ought  to  find  fault  with  you 
for  not  returning  when  you  promised.  You 
know  that  if  I  could  feel  a  new  sorrow  in  the 
state  I  am  in,  it  would  be  at  the  death  of 
Madame  de  Tournon,  of  which  I  heard  this 


128         The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

morning.  I  should  have  been  distressed  by 
it  even  if  I  had  not  known  her.  It  is  always 
painful  when  a  young  and  beautiful  woman 
like  her  dies  after  an  illness  of  only  two 
days,  and  much  more  so  when  it  is  one 
of  the  persons  I  liked  best  in  the  world, 
and  who  seemed  as  modest  as  she  was 
worthy." 

"  I  was  sorry  not  to  return  yesterday," 
answered  Monsieur  de  Cleves ;  "  but  it  was 
so  imperatively  necessary  that  I  should 
console  an  unhappy  man  that  I  could 
not  possibly  leave  him.  As  for  Madame 
de  Tournon,  I  advise  you  not  to  be  too 
profoundly  distressed,  if  you  mourn  her  as 
an  upright  woman  who  deserved  your 
esteem." 

"  You  surprise  me,"  said  Madame  de 
Cleves,  "  as  I  have  often  heard  you  say  that 
there  was  no  woman  at  court  whom  you 
esteemed  more  highly." 

"  That  is  true,"  he  answered ;  "  but  women 


The  Princess  of  C I  eves.        129 

are  incomprehensible,  and  the  more  I  see  of 
them,  the  happier  I  feel  that  I  have  married 
you,  and  I  cannot  be  sufficiently  grateful  for 
my  good  fortune." 

"  You  think  better  of  me  than  I  deserve," 
exclaimed  Madame  de  Cleves,  with  a  sigh, 
"  and  it  is  much  too  soon  to  think  me 
worthy  of  you.  But  tell  me,  please,  what 
has  undeceived  you  about  Madame  de 
Tournon." 

"  I  have  long  been  undeceived  in  re- 
gard to  her,"  he  replied,  "  and  have  long 
known  that  she  loved  the  Count  of  San- 
cerre,  to  whom  she  held  out  hopes  that  she 
would  marry  him." 

"  I  can  scarcely  believe,"  interrupted 
Madame  de  Cleves,  "  that  Madame  de  Tour- 
non, after  the  extraordinary  reluctance  to 
matrimony  which  she  showed  after  she  be- 
came a  widow,  and  after  her  public  assertions 
that  she  would  never  marry  again,  should 
have  given  Sancerre  any  hopes." 

VOL.  I.  —  9 


130         The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

"  If  she  had  given  them  only  to  him," 
replied  Monsieur  de  Cleves,  "there  would 
be  little  occasion  for  surprise ;  but  what  is 
astounding  is  that  she  also  gave  them  to 
Estouteville  at  the  same  time,  and  I  will 
tell  you  the  whole  story." 


PART   II. 

"  "\7"OU  know,"  Monsieur  de  Cleves  con- 
tinued, "  what  good  friends  Sancerre 
and  I  are ;  yet  when,  about  two  years  ago, 
he  fell  in  love  with  Madame  de  Tournon, 
he  took  great  pains  to  conceal  it  from  me, 
as  well  as  from  every  one  else,  and  I  was 
far  from  suspecting  it.  Madame  de  Tour- 
non appeared  still  inconsolable  for  her  hus- 
band's death,  and  was  still  living  in  the  most 
absolute  retirement.  Sancerre's  sister  was 


132         The  Princess  of  Cfeves. 

almost  the  only  person  she  saw,  and  it  was  at 
her  house  that  the  count  fell  in  love  with  her. 

"  One  evening  when  there  was  to  be  a  play 
at  the  Louvre,  and  while  they  were  waiting 
for  the  king  and  Madame  de  Valentinois  in 
order  to  begin,  word  was  brought  that  she 
was  ill  and  that  the  king  would  not  come. 
Every  one  guessed  that  the  duchess's  illness 
was  some  quarrel  with  the  king.  We  knew 
how  jealous  he  had  been  of  the  Marshal  of 
Brissac  during  his  stay  at  court;  but  the 
marshal  had  gone  back  to  Piedmont  a  few 
days  before,  and  we  could  not  imagine  the 
cause  of  this  falling-out. 

"  While  I  was  talking  about  it  with  San- 
cerre,  Monsieur  d'Anville  came  into  the  hall 
and  whispered  to  me  that  the  king  was  in 
a  state  of  distress  and  anger  most  piteous  to 
see ;  that  when  he  and  Madame  de  Valenti- 
nois were  reconciled  a  few  days  before,  after 
their  quarrels  about  the  Marshal  of  Brissac, 
the  king  had  given  her  a  ring  and  asked  her 
to  wear  it.  While  she  was  dressing  for  the 
play,  he  had  noticed  its  absence,  and  had 


The  Princess  of  C I  eves.         133 

asked  her  the  reason.  She  seemed  sur- 
prised to  miss  it,  and  asked  her  women  for 
it;  but  they,  unfortunately,  perhaps  because 
tl£y  had  not  been  put  on  their  guard,  said 
that  it  was  some  four  or  five  days  since 
they  had  seen  it. 

"  '  That  exactly  corresponded  with  the  date 
of  the  Marshal  of  Brissac's  departure,'  Mon- 
sieur d'Anville  went  on ;  '  and  the  king  is  con- 
vinced that  she  gave  him  the  ring  when  she 
bade  him  good-by.  This  thought  has  so 
aroused  all  his  jealousy,  which  was  by  no 
means  wholly  extinguished,  that,  contrary  to 
his  usual  custom,  he  flew  into  a  rage  and  re- 
proached her  bitterly.  He  has  gone  back  to 
his  room  in  great  distress,  whether  because  he 
thinks  that  Madame  de  Valentinois  has  given 
away  his  ring,  or  because  he  fears  that  he  has 
displeased  her  by  his  wrath,  I  do  not  know." 

"  As  soon  as  Monsieur  d'Anville  had 
finished,  I  went  up  to  Sancerre  to  tell  him 
the  news,  assuring  him  that  it  was  a  secret 
that  had  just  been  told  me,  and  was  to  go  no 
farther. 


134         The  Princess  of  Cloves. 

"The  next  morning  I  called  rather  early 
on  my  sister-in-law,  and  found  Madame  de 
Tournon  there.  She  did  not  like  Madame 
de  Valentinois,  and  knew  very  well  that  t.^<- 
sister-in-lawalso  had  no  reason  for  being  fond 
of  her.  Sancerre  had  seen  her  when  he  left 
the  play,  and  had  told  her  about  the  king's 
quarrel  with  the  duchess ;  this  she  had  come 
to  repeat  to  my  sister-in-law,  either  not  know- 
ing or  not  remembering  that  it  was  I  who 
had  told  her  lover. 

"  When  I  came  in,  my  sister-in-law  said  to 
Madame  de  Tournon  that  I  could  be  trusted 
with  what  she  had  just  told  her,  and  with- 
out waiting  for  permission  she  repeated  to 
me  word  for  word  everything  I  had  told 
Sancerre  the  previous  evening.  You  will  un- 
derstand my  surprise.  I  looked  at  Madame 
de  Tournon,  who  seemed  embarrassed,  and 
her  embarrassment  aroused  my  suspicions. 
I  had  mentioned  the  matter  to  no  one  but 
Sancerre,  who  had  left  me  after  the  play, 
without  saying  where  he  was  going;  but 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.         135 

I  remembered  hearing  him  praise  Madame 
de  Tournon  very  warmly.  All  these  things 
opened  my  eyes,  and  I  soon  decided  that 
there  was  a  love-affair  between  them,  and 
that  he  had  seen  her  after  he  left  me. 

"  I  was  so  annoyed  to  find  that  he  kept 
the  matter  secret  from  me  that  I  said  a  good 
many  things  that  made  it  clear  to  Madame 
de  Tournon  that  she  had  been  imprudent ;  as 
I  handed  her  to  her  carriage,  I  assured  her 
that  I  envied  the  happiness  of  the  person 
who  had  informed  her  of  the  falling-out  of 
the  king  and  Madame  de  Valentinois. 

"  At  once  I  went  to  see  Sancerre ;  I  re- 
proached him,  and  said  that  I  knew  of  his 
passion  for  Madame  de  Tournon,  but  I  did 
not  say  how  I  had  found  it  out.  He  felt 
obliged  to  make  a  complete  confession.  I 
then  told  him  how  it  was  I  had  discovered 
his  secret,  and  he  told  me  all  about  the  affair; 
he  said  that  inasmuch  as  he  was  a  younger 
son,  and  far  from  having  any  claims  to  such 
an  honor,  she  was  yet  determined  to  marry 


136         The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

him.  No  one  could  be  more  surprised  than 
I  was.  I  urged  Sancerre  to  hasten  his  mar- 
riage, and  told  him  that  he  would  be  justified 
in  fearing  anything  from  a  woman  who  was 
so  full  of  craft  that  she  could  play  so  false  a 
part  before  the  public.  He  said  in  reply  that 
her  grief  had  been  sincere,  but  that  it  had 
yielded  before  her  affection  for  him,  and 
that  she  could  not  suddenly  make  this  great 
change  manifest.  He  brought  up  many 
other  things  in  her  defence,  which  showed 
me  clearly  how  much  in  love  he  was;  he 
assured  me  that  he  would  persuade  her  to 
let  me  know  all  about  the  passion  he  had 
for  her,  since  it  was  she  who  had  let  out  the 
secret,  —  and  in  fact  he  compelled  her  to 
consent,  though  with  much  difficulty,  and  I 
was  from  that  time  fully  admitted  to  their 
confidence. 

"  I  have  never  seen  a  woman  so  honorable 
and  agreeable  toward  her  lover;  yet  I  was 
always  pained  by  her  affectation  of  grief. 
Sancerre  was  so  much  in  love,  and  so  well 


The  Princess  of  Cloves.         137 

satisfied  with  the  way  she  treated  him, 
that  he  was  almost  afraid  to  urge  their 
marriage,  lest  she  should  think  that  he  was 
moved  thereto  by  interest  rather  than  pas- 
sion. Still,  he  often  talked  to  her  about  it, 
and  she  seemed  to  have  decided  to  marry 
him ;  she  even  began  to  leave  her  retirement 
and  to  reappear  in  the  world,  —  she  used  to 
come  to  my  sister-in-law's  at  the  time  when 
part  of  the  court  used  to  be  there.  Sancerre 
came  very  seldom ;  but  those  who  were  there 
every  evening  and  met  her  often,  found  her 
very  charming. 

"  Shortly  after  she  began  to  come  out 
again  into  society,  Sancerre  imagined  that 
he  detected  some  coolness  in  her  love  for 
him.  He  spoke  to  me  about  it  several  times 
without  rousing  any  anxiety  in  me  by  his  com- 
plaints ;  but  when  at  length  he  told  me  that 
instead  of  hastening,  she  seemed  to  be  post- 
poning their  marriage,  I  began  to  think  that 
he  had  good  grounds  for  uneasiness.  I  said 
that  even  if  Madame  de  Tournon's  passion 


138        The  Princess  of  C I  eves. 

should  lessen  after  lasting  for  two  years,  he 
ought  not  to  be  surprised ;  that  even  if  it  did 
not  lessen,  and  though  it  should  not  be 
strong  enough  to  persuade  her  to  marry 
him,  he  ought  not  to  complain;  since  their 
marriage  would  injure  her  much  in  the  eyes 
of  the  public,  not  only  because  he  was  not 
a  very  good  match  for  her,  but  because  it 
would  affect  her  reputation:  hence  that  all 
he  could  reasonably  desire  was  that  she 
should  not  deceive  him  and  feed  him  with 
false  hopes.  I  also  said  that  if  she  had  not 
the  courage  to  marry  him,  or  if  she  should 
confess  that  she  loved  some  one  else, 
he  ought  not  to  be  angry  or  complain, 
but  preserve  his  esteem  and  gratitude  for 
her. 

"'I  give  you  the  advice,'  I  said  to  him, 
'  which  I  should  take  myself;  for  I  am  so 
touched  by  sincerity  that  I  believe  that  if 
my  mistress,  or  my  wife,  were  to  confess 
that  any  one  pleased  her,  I  should  be  dis- 
tressed without  being  angered,  and  should 


The  Princess  of  C I  eves.         139 

lay  aside  the  character  of  lover  or  husband 
to  advise  and  sympathize  with  her.' " 

At  these  words  Madame  de  Cleves 
blushed,  finding  a  certain  likeness  to  her  own 

•% 

condition  which  surprised  her  and  distressed 
her  for  some  time. 

"  Sancerre  spoke  to  Madame  de  Tournon," 
Monsieur  de  Cleves  went  on,  "  telling  her 
everything  I  had  advised ;  but  she  reassured 
him  with  such  tact  and  seemed  so  pained 
by  his  suspicions  that  she  entirely  dispelled 
them.  Nevertheless  she  postponed  their  mar- 
riage until  after  a  long  journey  which  he 
was  about  to  make ;  but  her  conduct  was 
so  discreet  up  to  the  time  of  his  departure, 
and  she  seemed  so  grieved  at  parting  with 
him,  that  I,  as  well  as  he,  believed  that  she 
truly  loved  him.  He  went  away  about  three 
months  ago.  During  his  absence  I  saw 
Madame  de  Tournon  very  seldom;  you  have 
taken  up  all  my  time,  and  I  only  knew  that 
Sancerre  was  to  return  soon. 

"  The  day  before  yesterday,  on  my  arrival 


140         The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

m  Paris,  I  heard  that  she  was  dead.  I  at 
once  sent  to  his  house  to  find  out  if  they 
had  heard  from  him,  and  was  told  that  he 
had  arrived  the  day  before,  —  the  very  day 
of  Madame  de  Tournon's  death.  I  went  at 
once  to  see  him,  knowing  very  well  in  what 
a  state  I  should  find  him ;  but  his  agony  far 
exceeded  what  I  had  imagined.  Never  have 
I  seen  such  deep  and  tender  grief.  As  soon 
as  he  saw  me,  he  embraced  me,  bursting  into 
tears.  '  I  shall  never  see  her  again,'  he  said, 
'  I  shall  never  see  her  again ;  she  is  dead ! 
I  was  not  worthy  of  her;  but  I  shall  soon 
follow  her.' 

"After  that  he  was  silent;  then  from  time 
to  time  he  repeated :  '  She  is  dead,  and  I 
shall  never  see  her  again !  '  Thereupon  he 
would  again  burst  into  tears,  and  seemed  out 
of  his  head.  He  told  me  he  had  received  but 
few  letters  from  her  while  away,  but  that 
this  did  not  surprise  him,  because  he  well 
knew  her  aversion  to  running  any  risk  in 
writing  letters.  He  had  no  doubt  that  she 


The  Princess  of  C I  eves.        141 

would  have  married  him  on  his  return;  and 
he  looked  upon  her  as  the  most  amiable  and 
faithful  woman  who  had  ever  lived ;  he  be- 
lieved that  she  loved  him  tenderly,  and  that 
he  had  lost  her  at  the  moment  when  he  made 
sure  of  winning  her  forever.  These  thoughts 
plunged  him  into  the  deepest  distress,  by 
which  he  was  wholly  overcome,  and  I  con- 
fess that  I  was  deeply  moved. 

"  Nevertheless,  I  was  obliged  to  leave  him 
to  go  to  the  king,  but  I  promised  to  return 
soon.  This  I  did ;  but  imagine  my  surprise 
when  I  found  that  he  was  in  an  entirely  dif- 
ferent mood.  He  was  pacing  up  and  down 
his  room  with  a  wild  face,  and  he  stopped 
as  if  he  were  beside  himself  and  said :  '  Come, 
come !  see  the  most  desperate  man  in  the 
world ;  I  am  ten  thousand  times  unhappier 
than  I  was  before,  and  what  I  have  just  heard 
of  Madame  de  Tournon  is  worse  than  her 
death.' 

"  I  thought  that  his  grief  had  crazed  him, 
for  I  could  imagine  nothing  more  terrible 


142         The  Princess  of  C I  eves. 

than  the  death  of  a  loved  mistress  who  re- 
turns one's  love.  I  told  him  that  so  long  as 
his  grief  had  been  within  bounds  I  had  un- 
derstood and  sympathized  with  it;  but  that 
I  should  cease  to  pity  him  if  he  gave  way 
to  despair  and  lost  his  mind.  '  I  wish  I 
could  lose  it,  and  my  life  too/  he  exclaimed. 
'  Madame  de  Tournon  was  unfaithful  to  me ; 
and  I  ascertained  her  infidelity  and  treachery 
the  day  after  I  heard  of  her  death,  at  a  time 
when  my  soul  was  filled  with  the  deepest 
grief  and  the  tenderest  love  that  were  ever 
felt,  —  at  a  time  when  my  heart  was  filled  with 
the  thought  of  her  as  the  most  perfect  crea- 
ture that  had  ever  lived,  and  the  most  gener- 
ous to  me.  I  find  that  I  was  mistaken  in 
her,  and  that  she  does  not  deserve  my  tears ; 
nevertheless,  I  have  the  same  grief  from  her 
death  as  if  she  had  been  faithful  to  me,  and 
I  suffer  from  her  infidelity  as  if  she  were 
not  dead.  Had  I  known  of  her  changed  feel- 
ing before  she  died,  I  should  have  been  wild 
with  wrath  and  jealousy,  and  should  have 


The  Princess  of  Cloves.         143 

been  in  some  way  hardened  against  the  blow 
of  her  death ;  but  now  I  can  get  no  consola- 
tion from  it  or  hate  her.' 

"  You  may  judge  of  my  surprise  at  what 
Sancerre  told  me;  I  asked  him  how  he 
found  this  out.  He  told  me  that  the  moment 
I  had  left  his  room,  Estouteville,  an  intimate 
friend  of  his,  though  he  knew  nothing  of  his 
love  for  Madame  de  Tournon,  had  come  to 
see  him  ;  that  as  soon  as  he  had  sat  down, 
he  burst  into  tears  and  said  he  begged  his 
pardon  for  not  having  told  him  before  what 
he  was  about  to  say;  that  he  begged  him  to 
take  pity  on  him ;  that  he  had  come  to  open 
his  heart  to  him ;  and  that  he  saw  before 
him  a  man  utterly  crushed  by  the  death  of 
Madame  de  Tournon. 

"  '  That  name,'  said  Sancerre,  '  surprised 
me  so  that  my  first  impulse  was  to  tell  him 
that  I  was  much  more  distressed  than  he ;  but 
I  was  unable  to  speak  a  word.  He  went  on 
and  told  me  that  he  had  been  in  love  with 
her  for  six  months;  that  he  had  always 


144         The  Princess  of  C I  eves. 

meant  to  tell  me,  but  she  had  forbidden  it 
so  firmly  that  he  had  not  dared  to  disobey 
her;  that  almost  ever  since  he  fell  in  love 
with  her  she  had  taken  a  tender  interest  in 
him;  that  he  only  visited  her  secretly;  that 
he  had  had  the  pleasure  of  consoling  her  for 
the  loss  of  her  husband ;  and,  finally,  that  he 
was  on  the  point  of  marrying  her  at  the  time 
of  her  death,  but  that  this  marriage,  which 
would  have  been  one  of  love,  would  have 
appeared  to  be  one  of  duty  and  obedience, 
because  she  had  won  over  her  father  to  com- 
mand this  marriage,  in  order  that  there 
should  not  be  any  great  change  in  her  con- 
duct, which  had  indicated  an  unwillingness 
to  contract  a  second  marriage. 

"  '  While  Estouteville  was  speaking,'  San- 
cerre  went  on,  '  I  fully  believed  him,  because 
what  he  said  seemed  likely,  and  the  time  he 
had  mentioned  as  that  when  he  fell  in  love  with 
Madame  de  Tournon  coincided  with  that  of 
her  altered  treatment  of  me.  But  a  moment 
after,  I  thought  him  a  liar,  or  at  least  out  of 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.         145 

his  senses,  and  I  was  ready  to  tell  him  so. 
I  thought,  however,  I  would  first  make  sure ; 
hence  I  began  to  question  him  and  to  show 
that  I  had  my  doubts.  At  last  I  was  so  per- 
sistent in  the  search  of  my  unhappiness  that 
he  asked  if  I  knew  Madame  de  Tournon's 
handwriting,  and  placed  on  my  bed  four  of 
her  letters  and  her  portrait.  My  brother 
happened  to  come  in  at  that  moment.  Es- 
touteville's  face  was  so  stained  with  tears 
that  he  had  to  go  away  in  order  not  to  be 
seen  in  that  state ;  he  told  me  that  he  would 
come  back  that  evening  to  get  the  things 
he  left.  I  sent  my  brother  away,  pretend- 
ing that  I  was  not  feeling  well,  being  im- 
patient to  read  the  letters,  and  still  hoping 
to  find  something  which  would  convince  me 
that  Estouteville  was  mistaken.  But,  alas, 
what  did  I  not  find !  What  tenderness, 
what  protestations,  what  promises  to  marry 
him,  what  letters !  She  had  never  written 
me  any  like  them.  So,'  he  went  on,  '  I 

suffer  at  the  same  time  grief  for  her  death 
VOL.   i.  — 10 


146         The  Princess  of  C lives. 

and  for  her  faithlessness,  —  two  misfortunes 
which  have  often  been  compared,  but  have 
never  been  felt  at  the  same  time  by  one 
person.  I  confess,  to  my  shame,  that  I 
feel  much  more  keenly  her  death  than  her 
change ;  I  cannot  find  her  guilty  enough 
to  deserve  to  die.  If  she  were  still  alive, 
I  should  have  the  pleasure  of  reproaching 
her,  of  avenging  myself  by  showing  her 
how  great  was  her  injustice.  But  I  shall 
never  see  her  again.'  He  repeated,  '  I  shall 
never  see  her  again,  —  that  is  the  bitterest 
blow  of  all ;  I  would  gladly  give  up  my 
life  for  hers.  What  a  wish !  If  she  were 
to  return,  she  would  live  for  Estouteville. 
How  happy  I  was  yesterday  ! '  he  exclaimed, 
'  how  happy  I  was  then !  I  was  the  most 
sorely  distressed  man  in  the  world ;  but  my 
distress  was  in  the  order  of  nature,  and  I 
drew  some  comfort  from  the  thought  that  I 
could  never  be  consoled.  To-day  all  my  feel- 
ings are  false  ones ;  I  pay  to  the  pretended 
love  she  felt  for  me  the  same  tribute  that 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.         147 

I  thought  due  to  a  real  affection.  I  can 
neither  hate  nor  love  her  memory;  I  am 
incapable  of  consolation  or  of  grief.  At 
least,'  he  said,  turning  suddenly  toward  me, 
1  let  me,  I  beg  of  you,  never  see  Estoute- 
ville  again ;  his  very  name  fills  me  with 
horror.  I  know  very  well  that  I  have  no 
reason  to  blame  him ;  it  is  my  own  fault  for 
concealing  from  him  my  love  for  Madame 
de  Tournon :  if  he  had  known  of  it,  he  would 
perhaps  have  never  cared  for  her,  and  she 
would  not  have  been  unfaithful  to  me.  He 
came  to  see  me  to  confide  his  grief;  I  really 
pity  him.  Yes,  and  with  good  reason/  he 
exclaimed ;  '  he  loved  Madame  de  Tournon 
and  was  loved  by  her.  He  will  never  see 
her  again ;  yet  I  feel  that  I  cannot  keep 
from  hating  him.  Once  more,  I  beg  of  you 
never  to  let  me  see  him  again.' 

"  Thereupon  Sancerre  burst  again  into 
tears,  mourning  Madame  de  Tournon,  say- 
ing to  her  the  tenderest  things  imaginable ; 
thence  he  changed  to  hatred,  complaints, 


148         The  Princess  of  C I  eves. 

reproaches,  and  denunciations  of  her  conduct. 
When  I  saw  him  in  this  desperate  state  I 
knew  that  I  should  need  some  aid  in  calming 
him,  so  I  sent  for  his  brother,  whom  I  had 
just  left  with  the  king.  I  went  out  to  speak 
to  him  in  the  hall  before  he  came  in,  and  I 
told  him  what  a  state  Sancerre  was  in.  We 
gave  orders  that  he  was  not  to  see  Estoute- 
ville,  and  spent  a  good  part  of  the  night  try- 
ing to  persuade  him  to  listen  to  reason. 
This  morning  I  found  him  in  still  deeper 
distress;  his  brother  is  staying  with  him, 
and  I  have  returned  to  you." 

"  No  one  could  be  more  surprised  than  I 
am,"  said  Madame  de  Cleves,  "  for  I  thought 
Madame  de  Tournon  incapable  of  both  love 
and  deception." 

"  Address  and  dissimulation,"  answered 
Monsieur  de  Cleves,  "  could  not  go  further. 
Notice  that  when  Sancerre  thought  she  had 
changed  toward  him,  she  really  had,  and 
had  begun  to  love  Estouteville.  She  told 
her  new  lover  that  he  consoled  her  for  her 


The  Princess  of  Cloves.        149 

husband's  death,  and  that  it  was  he  who  was 
the  cause  of  her  returning  to  society;  while 
it  seemed  to  Sancerre  that  it  was  because 
we  had  decided  that  she  should  no  longer 
appear  to  be  in  such  deep  affliction.  She 
was  able  to  persuade  Estouteville  to  con- 
ceal their  relations,  and  to  seem  obliged  to 
marry  him  by  her  father's  orders,  as  if  it 
were  the  result  of  her  care  for  her  reputa- 
tion, —  and  this  in  order  to  abandon  Sancerre 
without  leaving  him  ground  for  complaint.  I 
must  go  back,"  continued  Monsieur  de  Cleves, 
"to  see  this  unhappy  man,  and  I  think  you 
had  better  return  to  Paris.  It  is  time  for 
you  to  see  company  and  to  begin  to  receive 
the  number  of  visits  that  await  you." 

Madame  de  Cleves  gave  her  consent,  and 
they  returned  the  next  day.  She  found 
herself  more  tranquil  about  Monsieur  de 
Nemours  than  she  had  been ;  Madame  de 
Chartres*  dying  words  and  her  deep  grief 
had  for  a  time  dulled  her  feelings,  and  she 
thought  they  had  entirely  changed. 


150        The  Princess  of  C I  eves. 

The  evening  of  Madame  de  Cleves's  arri- 
val the  dauphiness  came  to  see  her,  and 
after  expressing  her  sympathy  with  her 
affliction,  said  that  in  order  to  drive  away 
her  sad  thoughts  she  would  tell  her  every- 
thing that  had  taken  place  at  court  during 
her  absence,  and  narrated  many  incidents. 
"  But  what  I  most  want  to  tell  you,"  she 
added,  "  is  that  it  is  certain  that  Monsieur 
de  Nemours  is  passionately  in  love,  and 
that  his  most  intimate  friends  are  not  only 
not  in  his  confidence,  but  they  can't  even 
guess  whom  it  is  whom  he  loves.  Yet  this 
love  is  strong  enough  to  make  him  neglect, 
or  rather  give  up,  the  hope  of  a  crown." 

The  dauphiness  then  told  Madame  de 
Cleves  the  whole  plan  about  England.  "  I 
heard  what  I  have  just  told  you,"  she  went 
on,  "from  Monsieur  d'Anville;  and  he  said 
to  me  this  morning  that  the  king  sent  last 
evening  for  Monsieur  de  Nemours,  after 
reading  some  letters  from  Lignerolles,  who 
is  anxious  to  return,  and  had  written  to  the 


The  Princess  of  C I  eves.         151 

king  that  he  was  unable  to  explain  to  the 
Queen  of  England  Monsieur  de  Nemours' 
delay ;  that  she  is  beginning  to  be  offended ; 
and  that  although  she  has  given  no  posi- 
tive answer,  she  had  said  enough  to  war- 
rant him  in  starting.  The  king  read  this 
letter  to  Monsieur  de  Nemours,  who  instead 
of  talking  seriously,  as  he  had  done  in  the 
beginning,  only  laughed  and  joked  about 
Lignerolles'  hopes.  He  said  that  the  whole 
of  Europe  would  blame,  his  imprudence  if 
he  were  to  presume  to  go  to  England  as 
a  claimant  for  the  queen's  hand  without 
being  assured  of  success.  '  It  seems  to 
me  too,'  he  went  on,  '  that  I  should  not 
choose  the  present  time  for  my  journey, 
when  the  King  of  Spain  is  doing  his  best  to 
marry  her.  In  a  love-affair  he  would  not 
be  a  very  formidable  rival ;  but  I  think  that 
in  a  question  of  marrying,  your  Majesty 
would  not  advise  me  to  try  my  chances 
against  him.'  '  I  do  advise  you  so  in  the 
present  circumstances,'  answered  the  king. 


I52         The  Princess  of  C I  eves. 

'  But  you  have  no  occasion  to  fear  him.  I 
know  that  he  has  other  thoughts,  and  even 
if  he  had  not,  Queen  Mary  was  too  unhappy 
under  the  Spanish  yoke  for  one  to  believe  that 
her  sister  wishes  to  assume  it,  or  would  let  her- 
self be  dazzled  by  the  splendor  of  so  many 
united  crowns.'  '  If  she  does  not  let  her- 
self be  dazzled  by  them,'  went  on  Monsieur  de 
Nemours,  '  probably  she  will  wish  to  marry 
for  love;  she  has  loved  Lord  Courtenay 
for  several  years.  Queen  Mary  also  loved 
him,  and  she  would  have  married  him,  with 
the  consent  of  the  whole  of  England,  had 
she  not  known  that  the  youth  and  beauty 
of  her  sister  Elizabeth  attracted  him  more 
than  the  desire  of  reigning.  Your  Majesty 
knows  that  her  violent  jealousy  caused  her 
to  throw  them  both  into  prison,  then  to 
exile  Lord  Courtenay,  and  finally  decided 
her  to  marry  the  King  of  Spain.  I  be- 
lieve that  Elizabeth,  now  that  she  is  on  the 
throne,  will  soon  recall  this  lord  and  thus 
choose  a  man  she  has  loved,  who  is  very 


The  Princess  of  C I  eves.         153 

attractive,  and  who  has  suffered  so  much 
for  her,  rather  than  another  whom  she  has 
never  seen.'  '  I  should  agree  with  you,' 
replied  the  king,  '  if  Courtenay  were  still 
living;  but  some  days  ago  I  heard  that  he 
had  died  at  Padua,  where  he  was  living 
in  banishment.  I  see  very  well,'  he  added, 
as  he  left  Monsieur  de  Nemours,  '  that  it 
will  be  necessary  to  celebrate  your  mar- 
riage as  we  should  celebrate  the  dauphin's, 
by  sending  ambassadors  to  marry  the  Queen 
of  England  by  procuration.' 

"  Monsieur  d'Anville  and  the  Vidame,  who 
were  present  while  the  king  was  talking  with 
Monsieur  de  Nemours,  are  convinced  that  it 
is  this  great  passion  which  has  dissuaded 
him  from  this  plan.  The  Vidame,  who  is 
more  intimate  than  any  one  with  him,  said 
to  Madame  de  Martigues  that  the  prince 
is  changed  beyond  recognition;  and  what 
amazes  him  still  more  is  that  he  never  finds 
him  engaged  or  absent,  so  that  he  supposes 
he  never  meets  the  woman  he  loves;  and 


154         The  Princess  of  C I  eves. 

what  is  so  surprising,  is  to  see  Monsieur 
de  Nemours  in  love  with  a  woman  who 
does  not  return  his  passion." 

All  this  story  that  the  dauphiness  told  her 
was  as  poison  to  Madame  de  Cleves.  It  was 
impossible  for  her  not  to  feel  sure  that  she 
was  the  woman  whose  name  was  unknown ; 
and  she  was  overwhelmed  with  gratitude  and 
tenderness  when  she  learned  from  one  who 
had  the  best  means  of  knowing  that  this 
prince,  who  had  already  aroused  her  interest, 
hid  his  passion  from  every  one,  and  for  love 
of  her  gave  up  his  chances  of  a  crown.  It  is 
impossible  to  describe  her  agitation.  If  the 
dauphiness  had  observed  her  with  any  care, 
she  would  at  once  have  seen  that  the  story 
she  had  just  repeated  was  by  no  means 
without  interest  to  her;  but  having  no 
suspicion  of  the  truth,  she  went  on  with- 
.  out  noticing  her.  "  Monsieur  d'Anville,"  she 
added,  "  who,  as  I  said,  told  me  all  this, 
thinks  that  I  know  more  about  it  than  he 
does,  and  he  has  so  high  an  opinion  of 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.         155 

my  charms  that  he  is  convinced  that  I  am 
the  only  person  who  can  make  such  a  great 
change  in  Monsieur  de  Nemours." 

Madame  de  Cleves  was  agitated  by  this 
last  remark  of  the  crown  princess,  though 
not  in  the  same  way  as  a  few  moments  be- 
fore. "  I  should  readily  agree  with  Monsieur 
d'Anville,"  she  replied,  "  and  it  is  certainly 
probable,  Madame,  that  no  one  but  a  prin- 
cess like  you  could  make  him  indifferent  to 
the  Queen  of  England." 

"  I  should  at  once  acknowledge  it,"  said 
the  dauphiness,  "  if  I  knew  that  was  the 
case,  and  I  should  know  if  it  were  true. 
Love-affairs  of  that  sort  do  not  escape  the 
notice  of  those  who  inspire  them ;  they  are 
the  first  to  perceive  them.  Monsieur  de  Ne- 
mours has  never  paid  ^ any  but  the  most 

insignificant  attentions ;  but  there  is  never- 
theless so  great  a  difference  between  his  way 
with  me  and  his  present  conduct  that  I  can 
assure  you  I  am  not  the  cause  of  the  indif- 
ference he  shows  for  the  crown  of  England. 


156         The  Princess  of  C lives. 

"  I  forget  everything  while  I  am  with  you," 
she  went  on,  "  and  it  had  slipped  my  mind 
that  I  must  go  to  see  Madame  Elisabeth. 
You  know  that  peace  is  nearly  concluded ; 
but  what  you  don't  know  is  that  the  King 
of  Spain  would  not  agree  to  a  single  article 
except  on  the  condition  that  he,  instead  of 
the  prince  Don  Carlos,  his  son,  should  marry 
this  princess.  The  king  had  great  difficulty 
in  agreeing  to  this;  at  last  he  yielded,  and 
has  gone  to  tell  Madame.  I  fancy  she  will 
be  inconsolable ;  it  certainly  cannot  be  pleas- 
ant to  marry  a  man  of  the  age  and  temper 
of  the  King  of  Spain,  especially  for  her,  who, 
in  all  the  pride  of  youth  and  beauty,  ex- 
pected to  marry  a  young  prince  for  whom 
she  has  a  fancy,  though  she  has  never  seen 
him.  I  don't  know  whether  the  king  will 
find  her  as  docile  as  he  wishes,  and  he  has 
asked  me  to  go  to  see  her;  for  he  knows 
that  she  is  fond  of  me,  and  imagines  that  I 
have  some  influence  over  her.  I  shall  then 
make  a  very  different  visit,  for  I  must  go  to 


The  Princess  of  C lives.         157 

congratulate  Madame,  the  king's  sister. 
Everything  is  arranged  for  her  marriage  with 
Monsieur  de  Savoie,  and  he  will  be  here 
shortly.  Never  was  a  person  of  the  age  of 
that  princess  so  glad  to  marry.  The  court 
will  be  finer  and  larger  than  it  has  ever  been, 
and  in  spite  of  your  afflictions  you  must 
come  and  help  us  show  the  foreigners  that 
we  have  some  famous  beauties  here." 

Then  the  dauphiness  left  Madame  de 
Cleves,  and  the  next  day  Madame  Elisabeth's 
marriage  was  known  to  every  one.  A  few 
days  later  the  king  and  the  queens  called  on 
Madame  de  Cleves.  Monsieur  de  Nemours, 
who  had  awaited  her  return  with  extreme 
impatience,  and  was  very  desirous  of  speak- 
ing to  her  alone,  put  off  his  call  until  every 
one  should  have  leffli  and  it  was  unlikely 
that  others  would  come  in.  His  plan  was 
successful,  and  he  arrived  just  as  the  latest 
visitors  were  taking  their  departure. 

The  princess  was  still  lying  down ;  it  was 
warm,  and  the  sight  of  Monsieur  de  Nemours 


158         The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

gave  her  face  an  additional  color,  which  did 
not  lessen  her  beauty.  He  sat  down  oppo- 
site her  with  the  timidity  and  shyness  that 
real  passion  gives.  It  was  some  time  before 
he  spoke;  Madame  de  Cleves  was  equally 
confused,  so  that  they  kept  a  long  silence. 
At  last  Monsieur  de  Nemours  took  courage, 
and  expressed  his  sympathy  with  her  grief. 
Madame  de  Cleves,  who  was  glad  to  keep 
the  conversation  on  this  safe  topic,  spoke 
for  some  time  about  the  loss  she  had  experi- 
enced; and  finally  she  said  that  when  time 
should  have  dimmed  the  intensity  of  her 
grief,  it  would  still  leave  a  deep  and  lasting 
impression,  and  that  her  whole  nature  had 
been  changed  by  it." 

"  Great  afflictions  and  violent  passions," 
replied  Monsieur  de  Nemours,  "  do  greatly 
alter  people ;  as  for  me,  I  am  entirely 
changed  since  I  returned  from  Flanders. 
Many  persons  have  noticed  this  alteration, 
and  even  the  dauphiness  spoke  of  it  last 
evening." 


The  Princess  of  C I  eves.        159 

"  It  is  true,"  said  Madame  de  Cleves, 
"  that  she  has  noticed  it,  and  I  think  I 
have  heard  her  say  something  about  it." 

"  I  am  not  sorry,  Madame,"  Monsieur  de 
Nemours  continued,  "  that  she  perceived  it, 
but  I  should  prefer  that  she  should  not 
be  the  only  one  to  notice  it.  There  are 
persons  to  whom  one  does  not  dare  to  give 
any  other  marks  of  the  love  one  feels  for 
them  than  those  which  do  not  affect  them 
in  any  but  an  indirect  way;  and  since  one 
does  not  dare  to  show  one's  love,  one  would 
at  least  desire  that  they  should  see  that  one 
wishes  not  to  be  loved  by  any  one  else.  One 
would  like  to  have  the^  know  that  there  is 
no  beauty,  of  whatever  rank,  whom  one 
would  not  regard  with  indifference,  and  that 
there  is  no  crown  which  one  would  wish  to 
buy  at  the  price  of  never  seeing  them. 
Women  generally  judge  the  love  one  has 
for  them,"  he  went  on,  "  by  the  pains  one 
takes  to  please  them  and  to  pursue  them; 
but  that  is  an  easy  matter,  provided  they 


160         The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

are  charming.  What  is  difficult  is  not  to 
yield  to  the  pleasure  of  pursuing  them,  — 
it  is  to  avoid  them,  from  fear  of  showing 
to  the  public  or  to  them  one's  feelings ;  and 
the  most  distinctive  mark  of  a  true  attach- 
ment is  to  become  entirely  different  from 
what  one  was,  to  be  indifferent  to  ambition 
or  pleasure  after  having  devoted  one's  whole 
life  to  one  or  the  other." 

Madame  de  Cleves  readily  understood  the 
reference  to  her  in  these  words.  It  seemed 
to  her  that  she  ought  to  answer  them  and 
express  her  disapproval ;  it  also  seemed  to 
her  that  she  ought  not  to  listen  to  them  or 
show  that  she  took  his  remarks  to  herself: 
she  believed  that  she  ought  to  speak,  and 
also  that  she  ought  to  say  nothing.  The  re- 
marks of  Monsieur  de  Nemours  pleased  and 
offended  her  equally;  she  saw  in  them  a 
confirmation  of  what  the  crown  princess  had 
made  her  think,  —  she  found  them  full  of 
gallantry  and  respect,  but  also  bold  and  only 
too  clear.  Her  interest  in  the  prince  caused 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.         161 

an  agitation  which  she  could  not  control. 
The  vaguest  words  of  a  man  one  likes  pro- 
duce more  emotion  than  the  open  declar- 
ations of  a  man  one  does  not  like.  Hence 
she  sat  without  saying  a  word,  and  Mon- 
sieur de  Nemours  noticed  her  silence, 
which  would  have  seemed  to  him  a  happy 
omen,  if  the  arrival  of  Monsieur  de  Cleves 
had  not  put  an  end  to  the  talk  and  to  his 
visit. 

The  Prince  de  Cleves  had  come  to  tell 
his  wife  the  latest  news  about  Sancerre ;  but 
she  had  no  great  curiosity  about  the  rest 
of  that  affair.  She  wasS,  >  interested  in 
what  had  just  happened  that  she  could 
hardly  hide  her  inattention.  When  she 
was  able  to  think  it  all  over,  she  perceived 
that  she  had  been  mistaken  when  she  fan- 
cied that  she  had  become  indifferent  to 
Monsieur  de  Nemours.  His  words  had 
made  all  the  impression  he  could  desire,  and 
had  thoroughly  convinced  her  of  his  passion. 
His  actions  harmonized  too  well  with  his 

VOL.  I.  —  II 


1 62          The  Princess  of  C lives. 

words  for  her  to  have  any  further  doubts  on 
the  subject.  She  did  not  any  longer  indulge 
in  the  hope  of  not  loving  him;  she  merely 
determined  to  give  him  no  further  sign  of  it. 
This  was  a  difficult  undertaking,  —  how  diffi- 
cult she  knew  already.  She  was  aware  that 
her  only  chance  of  success  lay  in  avoiding 
the  prince,  and  her  mourning  enabled  her 
to  live  in  retirement ;  she  made  it  a  pretext 
for  not  going  to  places  where  she  might 
meet  him.  She  was  in  great  dejection ;  her 
mother's  death  appeared  to  be  the  cause, 
and  she  sought  no  other. 

Monsieur  de  Nemours  was  in  despair  at 
not  seeing  her  oftener;  and  knowing  that  he 
should  not  meet  her  at  any  assembly  or  en- 
tertainment at  which  the  whole  court  was 
present,  he  could  not  make  up  his  mind  to 
go  to  them;  he  pretended  a  great  interest 
in  hunting,  and  made  up  hunting-parties  on 
the  days  of  the  queens'  assemblies.  For  a 
long  time  a  slight  indisposition  served  as  a 
pretext  for  staying  at  home,  and  thus  escap- 


The  Princess  of  C I  eves.        163 

ing  going  to  places  where  he  knew  that 
Madame  de  Cleves  would  not  be. 

Monsieur  de  Cleves  was  ailing  at  nearly 
the  same  time,  and  Madame  de  Cleves  never 
left  his  room  during  his  illness;  but  when  he 
was  better  and  began  to  see  company,  and 
among  others  Monsieur  de  Nemours,  who, 
under  the  pretext  of  being  still  weak,  used 
to  spend  a  good  part  of  every  day  with  him, 
she  determined  not  to  stay  there.  Neverthe- 
less, she  could  not  make  up  her  mind  to 
leave  during  his  first  visits;  it  was  so  long 
since  she  had  seen  him  that  she  was  anxious 
to  meet  him  again.  He  too  managed  to 
make  her  listen  to  him,  by  what  seemed  like 
general  talk;  though  she  understood,  from 
its  reference  to  what  he  had  said  in  his  pre- 
vious visit  to  her,  that  he  went  hunting 
to  get  an  opportunity  for  meditation,  and 
that  he  stayed  away  from  the  assemblies 
because  she  was  not  there. 

At  last  Madame  de  Cleves  put  into  execu- 
tion her  decision  to  leave  her  husband's  room 


164         The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

when  the  duke  should  be  there,  though  she 
found  it  a  difficult  task.  Monsieur  de 
Nemours  observed  that  she  avoided  him, 
and  was  much  pained. 

Monsieur  de  Cleves  did  not  at  first  notice 
his  wife's  conduct;  but  at  last  he  saw  that 
she  was  unwilling  to  stay  in  his  room  when 
company  was  present.  He  spoke  to  her 
about  it,  and  she  replied  that  she  did  not 
think  it  quite  proper  that  she  should  meet 
every  evening  all  the  young  men  of  the 
court.  She  begged  him  to  let  her  lead  a 
more  retired  life  than  she  had  done  before, 
because  the  presence  of  her  mother,  who 
was  renowned  for  her  virtue,  had  authorized 
many  things  impossible  for  a  woman  of 
her  age. 

Monsieur  de  Cleves,  who  was  generally 
kind  and  pleasant  to  his  wife,  was  not  so  on 
this  occasion ;  he  told  her  he  was  averse  to 
any  change  in  her  conduct.  She  was 
tempted  to  tell  him  that  there  was  a  report 
that  Monsieur  de  Nemours  was  in  love  with 


The  Princess  of  CTeves,         165 

her;  but  she  did  not  feel  able  to  mention 
his  name.  She  was  also  ashamed  to  assign 
a  false  reason,  and  to  hide  the  truth  from  a 
man  who  had  so  good  an  opinion  of  her. 

A  few  days  later,  the  king  happened  to 
be  with  the  queen  when  she  was  receiving, 
and  the  company  was  talking  about  horo- 
scopes and  predictions.  Opinions  were  di- 
vided about  the  credence  that  ought  to  be 
given  to  them.  The  queen  was  inclined  to 
believe  in  them;  she  maintained  that  after 
so  many  predictions  had  come  true,  it  was 
impossible  to  doubt  the  exactness  of  this 
science.  Others  again  held  that  the  small 
number  of  lucky  hits  out  of  the  numerous 
predictions  that  were  made,  proved  that  they 
were  merely  the  result  of  chance. 

"  In  former  times,"  said  the  king,  "  I  was 
very  curious  about  the  future ;  but  I  was 
told  so  much  that  was  false  or  improbable 
that  I  became  convinced  that  we  can  know 
nothing  certain.  A  few  years  ago  a  famous 
astrologer  came  here.  Every  one  went  to 


1 66         The  Princess  of  C I  eves. 

see  him,  I  as  well  as  the  rest,  but  without 
saying  who  I  was;  and  I  carried  with  me 
Monsieur  de  Guise  and  D'Escars,  sending 
them  into  the  room  in  front  of  me.  Never- 
theless the  astrologer  addressed  me  first,  as 
if  he  thought  I  was  their  master;  perhaps 
he  knew  me,  although  he  said  something 
to  me  which  seemed  to  show  that  he  did 
not  know  who  I  was.  He  prophesied  that 
I  should  be  killed  in  a  duel ;  then  he 
told  Monsieur  de  Guise  that  he  would  be 
killed  from  behind,  and  D'Escars  that  he 
would  have  his  skull  broken  by  a  kick  from 
a  horse.  Monsieur  de  Guise  was  almost 
angry  at  hearing  this,  —  as  if  he  were  accused 
of  running  away;  D'Escars  was  no  more 
pleased  at  learning  that  he  was  going  to 
perish  by  such  an  unfortunate  accident, —  so 
that  we  all  left  the  astrologer  in  extreme  dis- 
content. I  have  no  idea  what  will  happen 
to  Monsieur  de  Guise  or  to  D'Escars,  but  it 
is  very  unlikely  that  I  shall  be  killed  in  a 
duel.  The  King  of  Spain  and  I  have  just 


The  Princess  of  C I  eves.         167 

made  peace ;  and  even  if  we  had  not,  I  doubt 
if  we  should  resort  to  a  personal  combat,  and 
it  seems  unlikely  that  I  should  challenge 
him,  as  my  father  challenged  Charles  V." 

After  the  king  had  mentioned  the  unhappy 
end  which  had  been  foretold  him,  those  who 
had  supported  astrology  gave  up  and  agreed 
that  it  was  unworthy  of  belief.  "  For  my 
part,"  said  Monsieur  de  Nemours,  "  I  am  the 
last  man  in  the  world  to  place  any  confidence 
in  it;"  and  turning  to  Madame  de  Cleves, 
near  whom  he  was,  he  said  in  a  low  voice: 
"  I  was  told  that  I  should  be  made  happy 
by  the  kindness  of  the  woman  for  whom 
I  should  have  the  most  violent  and  the 
most  respectful  passion.  You  may  judge, 
Madame,  whether  I  ought  to  believe  in 
predictions." 

The  dauphiness,  who  fancied,  from  what 
Monsieur  de  Nemours  had  said  aloud,  that 
he  was  mentioning  some  absurd  prophecy 
that  had  been  made  about  him,  asked  him 
what  he  was  saying  to  Madame  de  Cleves. 


1 68         The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

He  would  have  been  embarrassed  by  this 
question  if  he  had  had  less  presence  of  mind ; 
but  he  answered  without  hesitation :  "  I  was 
saying,  Madame,  that  it  had  been  predicted 
about  me  that  I  should  rise  to  a  lofty  po- 
sition to  which  I  should  not  even  dare  to 
aspire." 

"  If  that  is  the  only  prediction  that 
has  been  made  about  you,"  replied  the 
dauphiness,  smiling,  and  thinking  of  the 
English  scheme,  "  I  do  not  advise  you  to 
denounce  astrology;  you  might  find  good 
reasons  for  supporting  it." 

Madame  de  Cleves  understood  what  the 
crown  princess  referred  to;  but  she  also  un- 
derstood that  the  happiness  of  which  Mon- 
sieur de  Nemours  spoke,  was  not  that  of 
being  king  of  England. 

As  it  was  some  time  since  her  mother's 
death,  Madame  de  Cleves  had  to  appear 
again  in  society  and  to  resume  her  visits 
at  court.  She  met  Monsieur  de  Nemours 
at  the  dauphiness's  and  at  her  own  house, 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.         169 

whither  he  often  came  with  young  nobles 
of  his  own  age,  in  order  not  to  be  talked 
about;  but  she  never  saw  him  without  an 
agitation  which  he  readily  perceived. 

In  spite  of  the  care  she  took  to  escape 
his  glances  and  to  talk  less  with  him  than 
with  others,  certain  things  inadvertently 
escaped  her  which  convinced  this  prince 
that  she  was  not  indifferent  to  him.  A  less 
observant  man  than  he  would  not,  perhaps, 
have  noticed  them  ;  but  so  many  women  had 
been  in  love  with  him  that  it  was  hard 
for  him  not  to  know  when  he  was  loved. 
He  perceived  that  the  Chevalier  de  Guise 
was  his  rival,  and  that  prince  knew  that 
Monsieur  de  Nemours  was  his.  He  was 
the  only  man  at  court  who  would  have 
discovered  this  truth;  his  interest  had  rend- 
ered him  more  clear-sighted  than  the  others. 
The  knowledge  they  had  of  each  other's 
feelings  so  embittered  their  relations  that 
although  there  was  no  open  breach,  they 
were  opposed  in  everything.  In  running  at 


17°         The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

the  ring  and  in  all  the  amusements  in  which 
the  king  took  part  they  were  always  on  dif- 
ferent sides,  and  their  rivalry  was  too  intense 
to  be  hidden. 

The  English  scheme  often  recurred  to  Ma- 
dame de  Cleves,  and  she  felt  that  Monsieur 
de  Nemours  would  not  be  able  to  withstand 
the  king's  advice  and  Lignerolles'  urging. 
She  noticed  with  pain  that  this  last  had  not 
yet  returned,  and  she  awaited  him  with  im- 
patience. If  she  had  followed  his  move- 
ments, she  would  have  learned  the  condition 
of  that  matter ;  but  the  same  feeling  that  in- 
spired her  curiosity  compelled  her  to  con- 
ceal it,  and  she  contented  herself  with  mak- 
ing inquiries  about  the  beauty,  intelligence, 
and  character  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  A  por- 
trait of  her  was  carried  to  the  palace,  and 
she  found  Elizabeth  more  beautiful  than  was 
pleasant  to  her,  and  she  could  not  refrain 
from  saying  that  it  must  flatter  her. 

"  I  don't  think  so,"  replied  the  dauphiness, 
who  was  present.  "  Elizabeth  has  a  great 


The  Princess  of  C lives.         171 

reputation  as  a  beauty  and  as  the  possessor 
of  a  mind  far  above  the  common,  and  I 
know  that  all  my  life  she  has  been  held  up 
to  me  as  an  example.  She  ought  to  be  at- 
tractive if  she  is  like  Anne  Boleyn,  her 
mother.  Never  was  there  a  more  amiable 
woman  or  one  more  charming  both  in  ap- 
pearance and  disposition.  I  have  been 
told  that  her  face  was  exceptionally  viva- 
cious, and  that  she  in  no  way  resembled 
most  English  beauties." 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  said  Madame  de  Cleves, 
"  that  I  have  heard  that  she  was  born  in 
France." 

"  Those  who  think  so,"  replied  the  crown 
princess,  are  in  error,  "and  I  will  tell  you  her 
history  in  a  few  words.  She  was  born  of 
a  good  English  family.  Henry  VIII.  had 
been  in  love  with  her  sister  and  her  mother, 
and  it  had  even  been  suspected  that  she  was 
his  daughter.  She  came  here  with  the  sister 
of  Henry  VII.,  who  married  Louis  XII.  This 
young  and  gallant  princess  found  it  very 


1 7  2         The  Princess  of  Cloves. 

hard  to  leave  the  court  of  France  after  her 
husband's  death ;  but  Anne  Boleyn,  who 
shared  her  mistress's  feelings,  decided  to 
stay.  The  late  king  was  in  love  with  her, 
and  she  remained  as  maid  of  honor  to  Queen 
Claude.  This  queen  died,  and  Madame 
Marguerite,  the  king's  sister,  the  Duchess  of 
Alen^on,  since  then  Queen  of  Navarre,  whose 
stories  you  have  seen,  added  Anne  to  her 
suite;  it  was  from  her  that  this  queen  re- 
ceived her  inclination  toward  the  new  reli- 
gion. Then  Anne  returned  to  England, 
where  she  delighted  every  one.  She  had 
French  manners,  which  please  all  nations; 
she  sang  well,  and  danced  charmingly.  She 
was  made  a  lady  in  waiting  to  Queen 
Catherine  of  Aragon,  and  King  Henry 
VIII.  fell  desperately  in  love  with  her. 

"  Cardinal  Wolsey,  his  favorite  and  prime 
minister,  desired  to  be  made  pope ;  and 
being  dissatisfied  with  the  emperor  for  not 
supporting  his  claims,  he  resolved  to  avenge 
himself  by  allying  the  king  his  master  with 


The  Princess  of  Cloves.        173 

France.  He  suggested  to  Henry  VIII.  that 
his  marriage  with  the  emperor's  aunt  was 
null  and  void,  and  proposed  to  him  to  marry 
the  Duchess  of  Alengon,  whose  husband  had 
just  died.  Anne  Boleyn,  being  an  ambitious 
woman,  looked  on  this  divorce  as  a  possible 
step  to  the  throne.  She  began  to  instil  into 
the  King  of  England  the  principles  of  Luth- 
eranism,  and  persuaded  the  late  king  to  urge 
at  Rome  Henry's  divorce,  in  the  hope  of  his 
marriage  with  Madame  d'Alengon.  Cardinal 
Wolsey  contrived  to  be  sent  to  France  on 
other  pretexts  to  arrange  this  affair ;  but  his 
master  would  not  consent  to  have  the  propo- 
sition made,  and  sent  orders  to  Calais  that 
this  marriage  was  not  to  be  mentioned. 

"  On  his  return  from  France,  Cardinal  Wol- 
sey was  received  with  honors  equal  to  those 
paid  to  the  king  himself;  never  did  a  favo- 
rite display  such  haughtiness  and  vanity. 
He  arranged  an  interview  between  the  two 
kings,  which  took  place  at  Boulogne.  Fran- 
cis I.  offered  his  hand  to  Henry  VIII.,  who 


174         The  Princess  of  Cleves. 

was  unwilling  to  take  it;  they  treated  each 
other  with  great  splendor,  each  giving  the 
other  clothes  like  those  he  himself  wore. 
I  remember  having  heard  that  those  the 
late  king  sent  to  the  King  of  England  were 
of  crimson  satin  trimmed  with  pearls  and 
diamonds  arranged  in  triangles,  the  cloak  of 
white  velvet  embroidered  with  gold.  After 
spending  a  few  days  at  Boulogne,  they  went 
to  Calais.  Anne  Boleyn  was  quartered  in 
the  house  with  Henry  VIII.  in  the  queen's 
suite,  and  Francis  I.  made  her  the  same  pres- 
ents and  paid  her  the  same  honors  as  if  she 
had  been  a  queen  herself.  At  last,  after  be- 
ing in  love  with  her  for  nine  years,  Henry 
married  her,  without  waiting  for  the  annul- 
ment of  his  first  marriage,  which  he  had  long 
been  asking  of  Rome.  The  pope  at  once  ex- 
communicated him;  this  so  enraged  Henry 
that  he  declared  himself  the  head  of  the 
Church,  and  carried  all  England  into  the 
unhappy  change  of  religion  in  which  you 
now  see  it. 


The  Princess  of  Cfeves.         175 

"Anne  Boleyn  did  not  long  enjoy  her 
grandeur,  for  one  day,  when  she  thought  her 
position  assured  by  the  death  of  Catherine 
of  Aragon,  she  happened  to  be  present  with 
all  the  court  when  the  Viscount  Rochford, 
her  brother,  was  running  at  the  ring.  The 
king  was  suddenly  overwhelmed  by  such  an 
access  of  jealousy  that  he  instantly  left  the 
spot,  hastened  to  London,  and  gave  orders 
for  the  arrest  of  the  queen,  the  Viscount 
Rochford,  and  many  others  whom  he  be- 
lieved to  be  the  queen's  lovers  or  confidants. 
Although  this  jealousy  seemed  the  work  of 
a  moment,  it  had  for  some  time  been  insti- 
gated by  the  Viscountess  Rochford,  who 
could  not  endure  her  husband's  intimacy 
with  the  queen,  and  represented  it  to  the 
king  as  criminal  intimacy;  consequently  he, 
being  already  in  love  with  Jane  Seymour, 
thought  only  of  getting  rid  of  Anne  Boleyn. 
In  less  than  three  weeks  he  succeeded  in 
having  the  queen  and  her  brother  brought 
to  trial  and  beheaded,  and  he  married  Jane 


176         The  Princess  of  C I  eves. 

Seymour.  He  had  afterward  several  wives, 
whom  he  either  divorced  or  put  to  death, 
among  others  Catherine  Howard,  who  had 
been  the  confidant  of  the  Viscountess  of 
Rochford,  and  was  beheaded  with  her. 
Hence  she  was  punished  for  the  crimes 
with  which  she  had  blackened  Anne  Boleyn, 
and  Henry  VIII.,  having  reached  a  mon- 
strous size,  died." 

All  the  ladies  present  thanked  the  dau- 
phiness  for  teaching  them  so  much  about 
the  English  court,  and  among  others  Madame 
de  Cleves,  who  could  not  refrain  from  asking 
more  questions  about  Queen  Elizabeth. 

The  dauphiness  had  miniatures  painted  of 
all  the  beauties  of  the  court  to  send  to  the 
queen  her  mother.  The  day  when  that  of 
Madame  de  Cleves  was  receiving  the  last 
touches  the  crown  princess  came  to  spend 
the  afternoon  with  her.  Monsieur  de 
Nemours  was  also  there,  for  he  neglected  no 
opportunity  of  seeing  Madame  de  Cleves, 
although  he  never  seemed  to  court  her  so- 


The  Princess  of  Cloves.        177 

ciety.  She  was  so  beautiful  that  day  that  he 
would  surely  have  fallen  in  love  with  her  then 
if  he  had  not  done  so  already;  but  he  did  not 
dare  to  sit  with  his  eyes  fixed  on  her,  while 
she  feared  lest  he  should  show  too  plainly 
the  pleasure  he  found  in  looking  at  her. 

The  crown  princess  asked  Monsieur  de 
Cleves  for  a  miniature  he  had  of  his  wife,  to 
compare  it  with  the  one  that  was  painting. 
All  who  were  there  expressed  their  opinion 
of  both,  and  Madame  de  Cleves  asked  the 
painter  to  make  a  little  correction  in  the 
hair  of  the  old  one.  The  artist  took  the 
miniature  out  of  its  case,  and  after  working 
on  it,  set  it  down  on  the  table. 

For  a  long  time  Monsieur  de  Nemours 
had  been  desiring  to  have  a  portrait  of 
Madame  de  Cleves.  When  he  saw  this  one, 
though  it  belonged  to  her  husband,  whom  he 
tenderly  loved,  he  could  not  resist  the  temp- 
tation to  steal  it;  he  thought  that  among 
the  many  persons  present  he  should  not  be 
suspected. 


VOL.    I    —  12 


178          The  Princess  of  C I  eves. 

The  dauphiness  was  seated  on  the  bed, 
speaking  low  to  Madame  de  Cleves,  who  was 
standing  in  front  of  her.  One  of  the  curtains 
was  only  partly  closed,  and  Madame  de 
Cleves  was  able  to  see  Monsieur  de  Nemours, 
whose  back  was  against  the  table  at  the  foot 
of  the  bed,  without  turning  his  head  pick  up 
something  from  this  table.  She  at  once 
guessed  that  it  was  her  portrait,  and  she  was 
so  embarrassed  that  the  crown  princess 
noticed  she  was  not  listening  to  her,  and 
asked  her  what  she  was  looking  at.  At  these 
words  Monsieur  de  Nemours  turned  round 
and  met  Madame  de  Cleves'  eyes  fastened 
on  him ;  he  felt  sure  that  she  must  have 
seen  what  he  had  just  done. 

Madame  de  Cleves  was  greatly  embar- 
rassed. Her  reason  bade  her  ask  for  her 
portrait;  but  if  she  asked  for  it  openly,  she 
would  announce  to  everyone  the  prince's  feel- 
ings for  her,  and  by  asking  for  it  privately, 
she  would  give  him  an  opportunity  to  speak 
to  her  of  his  love,  so  that  at  last  she  judged 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.         179 

it  better  to  let  him  keep  it,  —  and  she  was 
very  glad  to  be  able  to  grant  him  a  favor  with- 
out his  knowing  that  she  did  it  of  her  own 
choice.  Monsieur  de  Nemours,  who  ob- 
served her  embarrassment  and  guessed  its 
cause,  came  up  to  her  and  said  in  a  low 
voice :  "  If  you  saw  what  I  ventured  to  do, 
be  good  enough,  Madame,  to  let  me  suppose 
that  you  know  nothing  about  it;  I  do  not 
dare  to  ask  anything  more."  Then  he  went 
away,  without  waiting  for  an  answer. 

The  dauphiness,  accompanied  by  all  her 
ladies,  went  out  for  a  walk.  Monsieur  de 
Nemours  locked  himself  up  in  his  own  room, 
being  unable  to  contain  his  joy  at  having  in 
his  possession  a  portrait  of  Madame  de 
Cleves.  He  felt  all  the  happiness  that  love 
can  give.  He  loved  the  most  charming 
woman  of  the  court,  and  felt  that  in  spite  of 
herself  she  loved  him ;  he  saw  in  everything 
she  did  the  agitation  and  embarrassment 
which  love  evokes  in  the  innocence  of  early 
youth. 


180         The  Princess  of  Cloves. 

That  evening  every  one  looked  carefully 
for  the  portrait;  when  they  found  the  case, 
no  one  supposed  that  it  had  been  stolen, 
but  that  it  had  been  dropped  somewhere. 
Monsieur  de  Cleves  was  distressed  at  its  loss, 
and  after  hunting  for  it  in  vain,  told  his  wife, 
but  evidently  in  jest,  that  she  doubtless  had 
some  mysterious  lover  to  whom  she  had 
given  the  portrait,  or  who  had  stolen  it,  for 
no  one  but  a  lover  would  care  for  the  por- 
trait without  the  case. 

Although  these  words  were  not  said  seri- 
ously, they  made  a  deep  impression  on  the 
mind  of  Madame  de  Cleves  and  filled  her 
with  remorse.  She  thought  of  the  violence 
of  her  love  for  Monsieur  de  Nemours,  and 
perceived  that  she  could  not  control  either 
her  words  or  her  face.  She  reflected  that 
Lignerolles  had  retunred,  and  that  the  Eng- 
lish scheme  had  no  terrors  for  her ;  that  she 
had  no  longer  grounds  for  suspecting  the 
dauphiness;  and  finally,  that,  as  she  was 
without  further  defence,  her  only  safety  was 


The  Princess  of  Cleves.         181 

in  flight.  Since,  however,  she  knew  she  could 
not  go  away,  she  saw  that  she  was  in  a  most 
perilous  condition,  and  ready  to  fall  into  what 
she  judged  to  be  the  greatest  possible  mis- 
fortune, —  namely,  betraying  to  Monsieur 
de  Nemours  the  interest  she  felt  in  him. 
She  recalled  everything  her  mother  had 
said  to  her  on  her  death-bed,  and  her  ad- 
vice to  try  everything  rather  than  enter 
upon  a  love-affair.  She  remembered  what 
her  husband  had  said  about  her  sincerity 
when  he  was  speaking  about  Madame  de 
Tournon,  and  it  seemed  to  her  that  it  was 
her  duty  to  confess  her  passion  for  Monsieur 
de  Nemours.  She  pondered  over  this  for  a 
long  time ;  then  she  was  astonished  that  the 
thought  occurred  to  her:  she  deemed  it 
madness,  and  fell  back  into  the  agony  of 
indecision. 


END   OF  VOL.   I. 


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